The Chairman of the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee of Parliament, has rebuked former Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, over his comment on the Labianca case.
In an interview on Joy FM’s Top Story, on Friday, Mr Kwame Anyimadu-Antwi asked the former Special Prosecutor to “stop behaving like the proverbial ‘Konongo kaya.’
“My constituency is at Konongo. I beg Martin Amidu, he should stop behaving like the kayaman from my hometown Konongo what we call Konongokaya,” he said.
In local parlance, ‘Konongo kaya’ is a reference to someone who will not execute a task, yet will not allow others to do it either.
According to him, “Ghanaians would be happier if he (Martin Amidu) would wean himself off OSP affairs.”
His comment is in relation to former Special Prosecutor, Mr Amidu, slamming the report issued by the Office of the Special Prosecutor on the Labianca case.
According to Mr Amidu, the Labianca report is hollow, without mandate and unconstitutional.
This, he explained, is because “the report seriously violates the statutory mandate of the OSP under the 1992 Constitution.” He said the report is also inconsistent with and contravenes Act 959 and the 1992 Constitution.
Mr Amidu stated that the report “the OSP Labianca report does not disclose the commission of any corruption and corruption-related offences upon which the suspects or accused were cautioned or charged, if they were indeed cautioned or charged.”
He further added that the report is “Nonetheless a mere investigatory report which is an internal pre-trial documentary process under Section 3 of Act 959 and Regulations 5, 6, and 7 of L. I. 2374 dealing with preliminary inquiry, investigation, full investigation, and investigation panels has been unconstitutionally and unlawfully turned into a public report containing damning adverse findings of guilt in the court of public opinion against Ms. Eunice Jacqueline Buah Asomah-Hinneh, an elected Member of the Council of State and Board Member of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, the Deputy Commissioner for Customs, Mr. Joseph Adu Kyei, and the Commissioner for Customs, Colonel Kwadwo Damoah (Rtd.) who were each only invited as a witness to the OSP’s Labianca investigations.”
In response, Mr. Anyimadu-Antwi explained that “The whole nation gave you the authority to actually run this office, you got to a point that you turned your back against the State. Now you go and sit on the fence then you are now directing the institution that you know the right thing to do and that they are not doing the right thing. You are accusing this institution of doing wrong and that they have actually taken sides.
“The question is whether or not what he is proposing, he has also not taken a side against the institution or another person?” He asked.
He added that the Office of the Special Prosecutor coming out with a report on the Labianca issue is not a conviction.
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