President Akufo Addo made a curious slip that disturbingly confirmed speculations that the Special Prosecutor Martin A.B.K Amidu has been subtly rendered irrelevant in the fight against official corruption.
While meeting with members of the diplomatic corps at the plush Peduase Lodge Presidential country house, President Akufo Addo gave a recommendation that implied that the diplomats to head to the Jubilee House instead of the Special Prosecutor Office (SPO) when they detect corruption from his appointees.
“Should you, members of the diplomatic corps be notified of any evidence of corruption against any of my appointees, I insist that they [should] be shared with my office to enable action to be taken on the matter,” he was quoted by the Ghana News Agency (GNA) to have said while stating that two of his appointees are currently under investigations for acts of corruption.
The President’s remarks at the Peduase lodge has further validated speculations that the Akufo Addo administration had only appointed an independent special prosecutor to whitewash the perceived corruption fight, while showing no real commitment to fighting the canker.
Mr. Amidu had recently sounded an alarm about how the administration was deliberately suppressing his ability to go after corrupt officials. First of all, it took the administration more than one year to push through the necessary legislation that will allow the SPO to commence work.
Afterwards, he was starved of resources and a working office until recently when he was located to a new office complex.
Mr. Amidu last year released an epistle that outlined how alleged corrupt appointees of the Akufo Addo administration have “wantonly disregarded” his request for investigation.
“Heads of institutions wantonly disregard statutory requests made by the Office for information and production of documents to assist in the investigation of corruption and corruption-related offences, in spite of the fact that the President has on a number of occasions admonished them on such misconduct.
“There have also been cases where some heads of institutions have made it their habit to interfere with and undermine the independence of this Office by deliberately running concurrent investigations falling within the jurisdiction of this Office with on-going investigations in this Office for the sole purpose of aborting investigations into corruption and corruption-related offences.”