Former Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu has called on the Presidency to publish several letters he wrote to the government concerning issues surrounding the operationalization of the Office of the Special Prosecutor while in office.
In a press statement released by him on December 1, Mr Amidu said it had become necessary for such letters to released following the government’s alleged leaking of his former office’s Budget Performance Report (2018-2020) as well as other documents to the media to malign and assassinate his character following his abrupt resignation and subsequent accusations.
“…On 18th November 2020 I received a WhatsApp of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Budget Performance Report (2018-2020) which had been widely distributed to the media intended to demonstrate that the OSP had been adequately funded and its lack of operationalization was entirely my fault as the then Special Prosecutor.
“On the same day I again received from some members of the media through WhatsApp a trove of documents constituting correspondence between the Office of the President and the OSP also intended to demonstrate that the Presidency had done everything to provide the OSP with suitable accommodation which I rejected.
“The documents were also intended to demonstrate that even when the keys to the ten (10) storey GETFund building (albeit empty and unfurnished) were to be handed over to me I rejected them without any just cause.”
According to Mr. Amidu, the released documents were well orchestrated to feed the general public half-truths, thus making him the villain in the ensuing drama following his resignation and claims of political encroachment on his work.
“I resigned on grounds of the reactions by the President to the Agyapa Royalties Transactions Report, but public attention was being diverted through spinning and propaganda to peripheral issues of Office accommodation,” he said.
He stated that the documents were released to add substance to the allegations made by the Presidency in the President’s letter of acceptance of his resignation from the office of the Special Prosecutor.
“This was knowingly done in false and indecent support of the President’s official letter responding to me personally after he had accepted my resignation letter dated 16th November 2020 based principally on his reaction to the professionally conducted Agyapa Royalties Limited Transactions Report.”
To this end, Martin Amidu said the President was infringing on the rights and freedoms of Ghanaian citizens by not providing them with the entire truth concerning the report on the Agyapa Royalties Transactions.
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“The disclosure of half-truths by the President to do wrong to any citizen or person living under the protection of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana for performing his professional duty in reporting on a statutory matter such as the Agyapa Royalties Transactions is inconsistent with and contravenes the Presidential Oath of office contained in the Second Schedule of the Constitution,” he said.
He has therefore called on the Presidency to publish the entire anti-corruption assessment report on the Agyapa deal as well as all the letters that had corresponded between the Martin Amidu and the Presidency while he was in office.
“The citizens of Ghana and I are entitled to the publication of the foregoing letters and any other that will enable them to make an informed judgment as to the justification for the publication of the half-truths contained in the trove of documents released by the Presidency to the media on 17th November 2020 to coincide with the President’s official response to me personally after earlier accepting my resignation on account of his reaction to the professionally conducted Agyapa Royalties Transactions report,” he stated.
He added that “The President has a duty under the Constitution to uphold the integrity of the 1992 Constitution once he directed the publication of the trove of half-truth documents from his Office to divert attention from my resignation based on his reaction to the Agyapa Royalties Transactions report.”