Former Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, has once again questioned the commitment of President Nana Akufo-Addo in the fight against corruption.
According to him, the conduct exhibited by the President following the submission of the findings of his Corruption Risk Assessment conducted into the Agyapa deal has demonstrated that his anti-graft campaign is mere rhetoric.
In an earlier letter, the then-Special Prosecutor had cited instances where the President had instructed that he held onto the report on the Agyapa Mineral Royalties Transaction in anticipation of a response from the Finance Minister, who had been indicted by the assessment for issues of bid-rigging among others.
This move, including the subsequent alleged attempt by the President to present him with the said response to the Corruption Risk Assessment, does not sit well with Mr Amidu, according to another letter to the Secretary to the President on November 27.
In the 27-page response, Mr Amidu explained that: “When I told the President on the 23rd October 2020 and on 1st November 2020 that he had no authority to usurp the functions of the Special Prosecutor it should have been clear to him that his interpretation had exceeded his authority under article 58(1) of the Constitution.”
The former Special Prosecutor believes the reaction of the President under the circumstance made it clear that the President’s role in the deal was much more pronounced than earlier publicised. He, thus, described him as “the mother corruption serpent” in the arrangement.
“The unconstitutional assumptions made by the President constitute the very conduct exhibited for the first time to me by the President which convinced me beyond every reasonable doubt that he only looked like the innocent flower but is the mother corruption serpent under the Agyapa Royalties Transactions,” he said.
In another paragraph, Mr Amidu emphasised that “when I met the President on 23rd October 2020, I received the shock of my life when he demanded that I took no further action on the Agyapa royalties transaction anti-corruption assessment report for another week.
“That was when it was divinely revealed to me that the President whom I trusted so much for integrity only looked like the innocent flower of anti-corruption but he was really the mother corruption serpent under the innocent-looking flower.”
Mr Amidu resigned from his position as Special Prosecutor on November 16, three years after he was appointed by President Akufo-Addo.