{"id":316076,"date":"2017-05-03T06:00:25","date_gmt":"2017-05-03T06:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=316076"},"modified":"2017-05-03T06:00:25","modified_gmt":"2017-05-03T06:00:25","slug":"insulting-jon-benjamin-over-mps-visa-fraud-shameful-martin-amidu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/05\/insulting-jon-benjamin-over-mps-visa-fraud-shameful-martin-amidu\/","title":{"rendered":"Insulting Jon Benjamin over MPs \u2018visa fraud\u2019 shameful \u2013 Martin Amidu"},"content":{"rendered":"
Former Attorney General, Martin Amidu, has slammed some members of Ghana\u2019s Parliament including the First Deputy Speaker, Joe Osei-Wusu, for making offensive comments at the British High Commissioner to Ghana, Jon Benjamin, following the leaked letter to the Speaker of Parliament that accused three current MPs and a former member of allegedly engaging in visa fraud.<\/p>\n
The alleged visa fraud came to the fore after the sighting of a confidential letter the British High Commission in Ghana wrote to the Speaker of Parliament, Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye, accusing the MPs of facilitating the entry of some of their supposed relatives to the UK using their Diplomatic Passports.<\/p>\n
The letter cited Richard Acheampong, MP for Bia East in the Western Region; Joseph Benhazin Dahah, MP for Asutifi North in the Brong Ahafo region; Johnson Kwaku Adu, MP for Ahafo Ano South West in the Ashanti Region and George Boakye, former MP for Asunafo South in the Brong Ahafo.<\/p>\n
The accused persons have thus been banned by from entering the UK for ten years.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”KDVxSKbJIhi20eBYCfxEKOItxf5GPLtL”]Since the news broke, some MPs have lambasted the British High Commissioner to Ghana, accusing him of deliberately leaking the letter to the media to smear the image of the legislature.<\/p>\n
But Mr. Amidu, in his latest epistle copied to Citi News<\/strong>, described as shameful the insults on Mr. Benjamin and the British Government. In his view,\u00a0the latter\u2019s petition to the Speaker, rather seeks to protect the integrity of Ghana\u2019s Parliament by exposing the wrongdoings of dishonorable members.<\/p>\n
He questioned Parliament\u2019s commitment when it comes to protecting its integrity, considering that the Speaker had kept the letter from the public for three months, until a whistle-blower leaked it to the media.<\/p>\n
Mr. Amidu said \u201cWhen one reads the letter of the British High Commission to the Speaker dated 20th January 2017, carefully one cannot escape the conclusion that it did not call for any attack or insult on his person or office by anybody in the 7th Parliament of Ghana.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI accordingly invite fellow patriotic citizens to join me in condemning the unwarranted attacks and shameful insults on the High Commissioner and his Government who only sought to defend the honour and dignity of Parliament as enshrined in the 1992 Constitution by pointing out past misconduct and suspected crime of some members of Parliament.\u201d<\/p>\n