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A political science professor at the University of Ghana, Legon, has called the decision of former special counsel Martin Amidu to resign his post as unfortunate due to some alleged threats to his life.
Professor Gyampo said that the Special Prosecutor had an excellent opportunity to make his mark, yet he resorted to the line of least resistance by resigning from his post.
“At your age, and given your experience, what [Amidu] fear of death threats and intimidation? If armed robbers are not afraid of dying during robbery attacks, even in heavily fortified places, how can an elderly person like Amidu, who does the right thing for society, give up, simply because of threats to his life?
“As a young man, I have received several threats in my life before, for daring to speak my mind. And that? I’m sure he had similar threats when he fought with the government of Professor Mill and became a vigilante citizen, ”said Professor Gyampo.
This follows Martin Amidu’s allegations of threats to his life following his assessment of the risk of corruption in the Agyapa deal.
“The events of November 12, 2020 removed the only protection I had against threats and the plans directed at me to conduct the Agyapa Royalties Limited Transactions anti-corruption assessment report and dictate that I resign as Special Prosecutor immediately,” Amidu explained in a four-page letter addressed to the President.
But in reaction to this, the senior professor of Political Science said that Amidu should have been aware of the type of system he was going to work for before accepting his appointment.
“Didn’t Amidu know that in our part of the world, corruption is more the rule than the exception and he will fight anyone who fights it? Didn’t he know that transitional democracies are always rushing to create institutions only to render them toothless by overt or surreptitious executive interference and denying them the resources necessary to function?
“Didn’t you know that in developing democracies, some people are untouchable and that if you touch them, there will be consequences? Didn’t he know that it is normal in a developing democracy for those in power to react in the way they might have reacted to his report exposing some irregularities? ”, He added.
He also reminded Mr. Amidu that he was “just a mere Special Prosecutor and not an Independent Public Prosecutor.”
“The two are completely different. The Special Prosecutor cannot be practically independent, as he operates in the shadow of the Attorney General, who is a partisan appointee and can actually prevent the Special Prosecutor from carrying out certain investigations.
“When some of us advocated for the separation of the General Prosecutor’s Office from the Ministry of Justice and the creation of an Independent Public Prosecutor, back in 2006, we were asking for an Independent Officer who does not walk in the shadows of any person appointed by the government.
“Amidu knew that he was not an Independent Public Prosecutor and yet he wanted to be independent,” said Professor Gyampo.
