According to him the matter, bordering the age of appointees who are not already public servants, had been a long-standing issue and that the attempt by Dr. Ayine to have it resolved once and for all is commendable.

Dr. Dominic Ayine on Monday February 12 2018, filed a suit at the Supreme Court to challenge the nomination of Martin Amidu for the position of Special Prosecutor.

[contextly_sidebar id=”RqqxkwYElBF5923WpTzyHjV2i8Prq7Dj”]In his suit, Dr. Ayine argued that Mr. Amidu, being 66 years of age, is too old to hold public office per what the constitution permits.

He is thus seeking a declaration from the Supreme Court that Mr. Amidu, “is not qualified or eligible to be nominated as the Special Prosecutor under Section 13(3) of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2018 (Act 959).”

Despite the suit, Parliament’s Appointments Committee went ahead to vet Mr. Amidu on Tuesday, February 13, 2018, with the Chairman of the Committee, Joseph Osei Owusu, claiming that the House had not been served with any writ.

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Wednesday, Mr. Adom Otchere said he was surprised Dr. Ayine did not stop the committee from proceeding with the vetting, saying there is a precedent to that effect.

The broadcast journalist said he wondered why Dr. Ayine did not push for such a move “because he could have done that.”

“There is precedent for that in the J.H. Mensah and the Attorney General [case], an old case at the Supreme Court where the Minority in Parliament wanted to prevent Mr. Kwame Preprah the Finance Minister [then] from reading the budget because they felt that he had not been properly approved by Parliament. Now they served the writ to the Speaker in the morning of the budget and the Speaker withheld the budget.”

“It is a very important matter because that matter has never been really settled at the court level in terms of the people presidents appoint who are not ministers or deputy ministers, what kind of age are permissible and what kind of age is not permissible. So yes… I commend Ayine for attempting to regulate this issue once and for all,” he added.

Amidu’s performance

On Amidu’s performance at the Appointments Committee, Paul Adom Otchere said he performed creditably well saying “I get the sense that the people of Ghana are very happy with Martin Amidu.”

He also commended the Appointments Committee for asking research inclined questions on Amidu during the vetting on Tuesday.

“I think it was good, excellent. Many people are commending the parliamentarians, indicating that they had done some research especially by reading some of his epistles as he called them then, or articles. So that was commendable,” he added.

Suit against Amidu’s SP nomination not out of fear – Ayine

Dr. Dominic Ayine has said his lawsuit is not influenced by fear of prosecution as suggested.

Speaking on Eyewitness News, Dr. Ayine, an appointee in the Mahama government, said such insinuations were without basis because prosecutorial powers were not limited to just the Special Prosecutor.

“…The reason is simply that it is not only Martin Amidu who can prosecute us. There are countless human beings that his excellency Nana Akufo Addo can appoint to prosecute us… The fact that he is a member of the party does not make him a repository of information about the dealings of our ministers and appointees. So it is pointless for anybody to start to think that we are afraid of him because he is coming from inside,” Dr. Ayine explained.

Aside from this, Dr. Ayine said the idea of Mr. Amidu as the Special Prosecutor was just over-hyped unnecessarily.

“…so why should we be afraid of Martin Amidu or any other person coming to be Special Prosecutor. This whole thing is over-hyped and that this whole thing about the fear of Amidu is not something we should be dwelling on.”

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Suit against Amidu’s age good for posterity – Adom Otchere appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

In addressing a question about the number of children he had as indicated on his CV, Martin Amidu stated that he had adults, and accompanied it with their ages; 35, 41 and 43 years.

In responding to a question by Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu about why he answered the question in that manner, Martin Amidu said, “the question was Children, honestly, I was going to say no child. I used adult because I have no responsibility for these people as children so as far as I’m concerned, they are not my children. If you go to the UK and tamper with anybody of these ages, you’ll go to jail; but because of the ambiguity of the question, that’s why I put those names there.”

The Member of Parliament for Tamale North constituency, Alhassan Suhuyini, in seeking clarification on the matter, inquired whether Martin Amidu holds the view that when his offsprings grow into adulthood, they were no longer his children.

“In my learning and understanding, children are children, when they achieve the age of majority, they legally are adults and no more children so my understanding is that, I have no control over these 3 adults and if I attempt to control them, I could be in legal trouble, that is why I call them adults. But biologically and legally when they were kids, they were my children. They don’t cease being my off springs, they are my adult companions  with whom I will do anything for because of the blood connection between me and them, but they are not strictly speaking children.”

But a lawyer and Member of Parliament for Akyem Abuakwa South, Samuel Atta Akyea, said Martin Amidu’s position was an attempt to rewrite the country’s succession laws.

“If you [Martin Amidu] said that children when they graduate into adulthood, cease to be children, then you are rewriting the whole of our succession laws, then the whole of inheritance shall be canceled,” he said.

Atta Akyea further stated that “by operation of law, in so far as somebody came out of your loins, even if the person is 90 years, and you are 150 years, that person remains a child and can inherit you… There is no opinion concerning children as he [Amidu] said, it is an operation of law. The age factor is of no consequence.”

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post I don’t have children, I have adults – Amidu tells Appointments c’ttee appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.