Whatsup News has intercepted a memo reportedly from the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) Martin Amidu, where he unilaterally allocated GHC 10,000 to himself monthly as a so-called “operational enhancement allowance”.
He also allocated GHC 5,000 monthly to his deputy and they have both been enjoying that allowance since February 2019.
Reliable sources who made the memo available to Whatsup News tell of how he allocated the amount to himself without recourse to the board of the OSP.
In the memo dated February 18, 2020, and directed at the OSP’s secretary, Mr. Amidu wrote that his decision to allocate the amount to himself was based on his assessment of other “colleagues in the field”.
“Further to consultation with colleagues in the field, I have now a general idea of how these matters should be handled. Accordingly, I have exercised my discretion in deciding that until further notice, each month, the Special Prosecutor should be given an operational enhancement allowance of GHC 10,000.00 (Ten Thousand Ghana cedis only) and the Deputy Special Prosecutor should receive GHC 5,000.000 ( Five thousand Ghana cedis only) to meet the functional duty allowances.”
Insiders at the OSP office say, this unilateral attitude of Martin Amidu is already causing serious friction at the OSP.
In the memo, Martin Amidu claimed the basis for carving such a monthly slice for the “operational enhancement allowance” is because they had been using their personal funds in that regard. He said: “The Special Prosecutor and Deputy Special Prosecutor are by the functions of their office entitled to a monthly operational enhancement allowance to function effectively and efficiently in order to achieve the mandate of this office. The two special prosecutors had to meet these essential functional commitments from their own pockets…”
However, inside sources tell Whatsup News that he still needed to have consulted with the OSP boss so that the office would not appear to be run like his “bedroom” affair.
This attitude and his massively dented public image as a failed Special prosecutor is reinforcing widespread criticisms that Martin Amidu has been a monumental failure as a Special Prosecutor tasked to go after corrupt government officials.
Since his appointment almost four years ago, hardly had he been able to prosecute a single government official, despite the widespread allegations of official kleptocracy in the Akufo Addo administration.
“Martin Amidu has been a disaster, quite a disappointment. He comes and rants and rants and people think he is about to bite, then he goes back to sleep. That is the story of this man. That is very unfortunate. Maybe he had some personal vendetta against some people, that is why he was talking so loud…,” Said Alfred Kwame Asiedu Walker, Ghana’s Independent Presidential Candidate in a recent interview with the news web portal, Ghanaweb.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Educate Africa Institute, Mr.Boadi William, has reinforced this failure of Martin Amidu and has called for the OSP to be scrapped.
Speaking on Nyankonton Mu Nsem on Rainbow Radio 87.5Fm, he said the Special Prosecutor has been a failure in fighting corruption despite the hope Ghanaians had in him.
In the same light, controversial lawyer, Maurice Ampaw has described Martin Amidu’s performance as “awful”, particularly his [Amidu’s] resort to media banter with people he perceived to have been corrupt.
“You don’t engage in media banter at a respected office like the Special Prosecutor. The CID office and other equally respected offices will not do that. You don’t let people ridicule your office with contempt like how John Mahama described his as ‘stupid and coward’,” Ampaw said in an interview with NEAT FM’s morning show monitored by Whatsup News.