{"id":402929,"date":"2018-02-20T14:39:29","date_gmt":"2018-02-20T14:39:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=402929"},"modified":"2018-02-21T06:08:19","modified_gmt":"2018-02-21T06:08:19","slug":"parliament-was-right-in-approving-amidu-despite-suit-ag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2018\/02\/parliament-was-right-in-approving-amidu-despite-suit-ag\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Parliament was right in approving Amidu despite suit’ – AG"},"content":{"rendered":"

Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Gloria Akuffo, has defended the approval of Martin Amidu as the country’s first Special Prosecutor despite a suit at the Supreme Court challenging his eligibility over his age<\/strong><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

\u201cParliament has not been injuncted. The mere initiation of a suit does not serve as an injunction. In the absence of that, I think Parliament is right in proceeding with the approval. In the absence of an injunction Parliament is free to proceed and they are right to do so,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Parliament on Tuesday, February 20, 2018, approved Mr. Amidu as Special Prosecutor to tackle corruption cases in the country.<\/p>\n

[contextly_sidebar id=”XZF3uw5wlkwhT8PrTvscNMkiLcOc9rjI”]The approval was done regardless of a suit 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.<\/p>\n

Dr. Ayine prior to the approval on Tuesday further asked Parliament to put the process on hold, as his suit is still pending at the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

Drawing on Standing order 93(1), Dr. Ayine invited the Speaker of Parliament to rule on whether the House\u2019s intention to approve the nominee will not be wrong pending the Supreme Court case.<\/p>\n

But the Speaker of Parliament, Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye, ruled against Dr. Ayine\u2019s argument thus paving the way for Amidu\u2019s approval.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Citi News<\/strong>\u2019 Duke Mensah Opoku in Parliament after the approval, Gloria Akuffo, who recommended Amidu for the position, said she is hopeful the Supreme Court case will go in favour of Amidu.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am confident that Mr. Amidu\u2019s appointment will be confirmed by the Supreme Court\u2026Let\u2019s allow the court to go into the merits and come out with its decision,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\u2018Too old\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dr. Dominic Ayine<\/strong>\u00a0who is also a former Deputy Attorney-General,\u00a0\u00a0filed the suit\u00a0at the Supreme Court on February 12, 2018<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0arguing that Mr. Amidu’s age bars him from being appointed to public office.<\/p>\n

However, Parliament’s Appointments Committee went ahead to vet Mr. Amidu last Tuesday with the Chairman of the Committee, Joseph Osei Owusu claiming that he had not been served any injunction to prevent the committee from doing its work.<\/p>\n

The vetting, which lasted more than\u00a0seven hours<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0saw members of committee quizzing Mr. Amidu\u2019s plans for the Special Prosecutor\u2019s Office and how he intends to\u00a0carry out his mandate of fighting corruption.<\/p>\n

The Appointments Committee also unanimously recommended his confirmation moments after the gruelling exercise.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
\nFollow @AlloteyGodwin<\/a>
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