From Domelevo To Amidu, Pattern of Hounding Out Anti-corruption Officials Becomes Obvious

The hounding of Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, out of office has led to questions on social media as to which anti-corruption fighter in government will be next.

Ghanaian Netizens have quickly joined the dots and a pattern has developed, showing that if a State official dares go after any appointee of President Akufo-Addo embroiled in corruption, the Jubilee House takes it as an act of war that often leads to the ouster of the anti-corruption advocate.

Ghanaians commenting on the resignation of Martin Amidu as Special Prosecutor point out that he went in a similar mode to Auditor-General, Daniel Yaw Domelevo, who has been forced on an extended leave of office for daring to challenge Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo Maafo for his involvement in the multi-million-dollar scandal of the infamous Kroll Associates contract.

After failing to get a tangible explanation from Osafo Maafo for the decision to pay a whopping amount of Ghc5.7million for no work done, according to Mr. Domelevo, he went ahead to surcharge Osafo Maafo. 

This was Domelevo’s beginning to his end as the state auditor.

President Akufo-Addo soon charged on Domelevo and asked him to go on a 123-day by-forced leave. When the Auditor General complained and stated that he knew his work was embarrassing the Akufo-Addo government, Akufo-Addo increased the leave days to 172. 

Consequently, the Auditor General will be on a forced hiatus until a few days before o his retirement.

The regime was perceived to have bullied Domelevo out this way for the free hand to rescue Osafo Maafo from the noose of a court case that was closing in on him. Osafo Maafo has since been freed.

According to Special Prosecutor, his turn to be bullied out came when he decided to conduct a corruption risk assessment into the Agyapa Mineral Royalties deal, said to have been championed by the President’s cousin and Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta.

Looking into the deal that would collateralize Ghana’s Mineral royalties for some 15 years by listing on the London Stock Exchange and opening an office in a UK tax haven, the SP found out the deal was mired in corruption, vandalism of law and money laundering.

He released his report to the President but Akufo-Addo who sat on it for two weeks until Amidu angrily reported to the public what was happening. 

Immediately after the public started reading the document, the President released a statement that was essentially regarded as an attempt to shield Ken Ofori-Atta.

Yesterday, Amidu resigned, citing among other things, attempts to force him to water down his report by incorporating Ofori-Atta’s stories about the deal.

Following Amidu’s resignation, President Akufo-Addo’s image as a corrupt leader has skyrocketed, with throwbacks to the Domelevo hounding invoking overwhelming déjà vu on social media. However, observers are also worried that the exit of Amidu leaves Akufo-Addo and his appointees a field day to loot.