“I have given Mr. President my word of honour that I will discharge the duties of the burdensome you have entrusted to my care with similar integrity and honour with your support. Mr. President, I want to assure you that the propaganda about witch-hunting will not daunt me from prosecuting all corruption crimes without reference to political considerations…I will treat crime as crime and nothing else,” he assured.

Mr. Amidu gave the assurance today, Friday, February 23, 2018, when he was sworn into office as Ghana’s first Special Prosecutor by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at the Flagstaff House.

On the case at the Supreme Court challenging his eligibility for the position because of his age, the Special Prosecutor said he has not received any lawsuit to that effect, hence nothing bars him from accepting the job he described as “burdensome.”

“I wish the public to know that nobody has served me personally with any writ or statement of case or injunction challenging my nomination, approval and appointment so as to restrain me from accepting this appointment,” he added.

Martin Amidu was vetted by the Appointments Committee on February 15, 2018; an assessment exercise that lasted over 7 hours.

Mr. Amidu’s public vetting has received widespread commendation as many stakeholders believe he performed creditably.

The Appointments Committee also unanimously recommended his confirmation moments after its grueling 7-hour public hearing exercise.

He was subsequently approved by Parliament last Tuesday.

A day before the vetting a suit was filed at the Supreme Court by Deputy Minority Ranking Member on Constitutional Affairs, Dr. Dominic Ayine, who is seeking a declaration that Mr. Amidu, who is 66-years-old, cannot hold public office because he has exceeded the mandated age limit per the 1992 constitution.

Again, Dr. Ayine prior to Mr. Amidu’s approval in Parliament on Tuesday further asked the law making body to put the process on hold, as his suit is still pending at the Supreme Court.

But his call was ignored by the Speaker of Parliament.

About Martin Amidu

Martin A. B. K. Amidu was the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice from January 2011 till January 2012 under the late President John Evans Atta-Mills.

Amidu, a member of the NDC, served as the Deputy Attorney-General for about the last four years of the Provisional National Defence Council military government.

After civilian rule was established in the Fourth Republic in January 1993, he continued to serve in the government of Jerry Rawlings as Deputy Attorney-General. This he did for both terms lasting eight years until January 2001.

In the December 2000 presidential elections, he stood as the running mate of John Atta Mills. They both however lost to President John Kufuor that year.

In January 2010, following a cabinet reshuffle, President Mills replaced Cletus Avoka with Martin Amidu as the Minister for Interior. As Amidu is a Builsa, some people raised questions as to his neutrality in dealing with the Bawku conflict. He, however, went successfully through vetting by the Parliament of Ghana and has since assumed his post.

Following the second major cabinet reshuffle by President Mills, Amidu became the Attorney general and Minister for Justice of Ghana.

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

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