Former Attorney General, Martin Amidu, has suggested President Nana Akufo –Addo cannot be blamed for his government’s inability to prosecute persons alleged to have engaged in corrupt practices.
In the run up to the 2016 general elections, the New Patriotic Party led by the then candidate Nana Akufo-Addo accused the John Mahama administration of gross corruption and vowed to prosecute officials found culpable if voted into power.
Eleven months after taking over the governance of the country having won the elections of December 7, the Akufo-Addo government is yet to prosecute any former government official of corruption.
Many people, especially those within the National Democratic Congress, have dared the government to carry through its threat of prosecuting corrupt former officials if it has the evidence.
On Tuesday, Samuel Gyamfi, who is a youth activist of the NDC, said the failure of the Akufo-Addo government to so far prosecute any former government official is because it has no evidence of corruption whatsoever against anyone.
“They called us thieves, now Ghanaians give you the opportunity to rule only for you to tell us you have used eleven months to investigate. What is happening now shows they didn’t have any evidence,” he said on the newspaper segment of TV3’s New Day magazine show Tuesday.
But in his latest article titled Woyome’s suspected crimes and the missing link, Mr. Amidu said critics should not expect President Akufo-Addo to personally investigate and prosecute corrupt officials.
“No reasonable person expects President Nana Akufo Addo to personally investigate and deal with suspects in fulfillment of his promises of fighting corruption and dealing with past corruption which substantially contributed to earning him the Presidency,” he stated.
He argued that such investigative and prosecutorial functions are for his appointees who have been given the responsibility for security and intelligence, law and order, especially justice.
Bias advice from public officers
He admitted the government has in the last 11 months not been able to reopen the Woyome case and find the real facts as promised by the President in the run up to the 2016 general elections.
The former AG blamed the situation on the inability of the Akufo-Addo appointees “to go beyond the biased advice being proffered to them by the senior public officers they inherited from the previous Government”.
He contended that a conscientious and knowledgeable Minister should be able within the first three months in office, identify how many of his officers were given last minute promotion by past government and their role in cover ups in the Ministry.
“The inability of any Minister to understand the composition and promotional history of his senior public servants upon whom he depends for advice within the first three to six months means that he may be working with moles planted before the demise of the previous government.
“A simple analysis of the staff list in any Ministry including transfers within a period will easily give any Minister a bird’s eye view of how very junior staff wormed their way into acting senior positions above their very senior and competent colleagues and were later promoted in the election year, just in case the ballot was lost,” he argued.
According to Mr. Amidu, such an exercise may provide an opening into the dependability and professionalism of some senior public servants in calling the government’s attention to residual issues needing urgent redress.
By Stephen Kwabena Effah|3news.com|Ghana