Martin Amidu - Beyond politics
Coming events, the adage says, cast a long shadow and so it has proved to be with Mr Martin A. B. K. Amidu, former Attorney General of the Republic.
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A very interesting Daily Graphic report of September 2000 which has been published on the Modern Ghana website proves to be prescient in the light of recent events.
When information leaked that then Vice President John Evans Atta Mills had selected Martin Amidu, the then Deputy Attorney General as his running mate Mr Huudu Yahaya, the deputy chairman of the NDC is reported to have said “Mr Amidu is well known for his frank and independent opinions and transparent life style”. As both revelation and prophesy that remark was definitely spot on.
The choice of Mr Amidu as vice presidential candidate in the 2000 election was confirmed shortly after that report, and he and Professor Mills, despite a spirited effort, lost to Mr John Agyekum Kufuor and Alhaji Aliu Mahama of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Four years later, Professor Mills defied a vigorous behind the scenes campaign by “cadres of the revolution” to select Amidu again in his second futile attempt to be President.
Before his selection as the running mate in 2000, Mr Amidu had been the Deputy Attorney General in the Rawlings’ governments of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) and the post-military National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Thus it can be argued that Mr Amidu has one of the longest spells in the higher echelons of public service in this country, but in all of that period, perhaps nothing he has done has had the same beneficial effect on Ghana as his recent gargantuan legal successes at the Supreme Court.
And I am not referring to the amounts of money which the Supreme Court has ordered must be refunded to Ghana although that is rather substantial; there are things money cannot buy, and one of them is the belief that one person can make a difference.
The irony is that Mr Amidu was sacked by President Mills for whom he had been a running mate in connection with the self-same judgement debt issues and the principles that have exalted him in the eyes of his compatriots; in that sense, Professor Mills did Ghana a huge disservice by firing his Attorney General and former running mate.
However, it is tempting to see Mr Amidu as a one-horse man who is concerned or even obsessed with judgement debts, or worse, as someone who was pricked into action by his dismissal from office but that would be both unfair and untrue.
Perhaps, of all previous and current government ministers and their deputies, Mr Amidu has developed the most consistent appreciation and practice of public service ethics down the years.
In his canon of faith and service Ghana comes first, second and last and there appears to be very little room for political party consideration.
For a more rounded four-dimensional picture of Mr Amidu the man, politician, lawyer and public servant I urge readers to go to www.martinamidu.com where a collection of his statements and articles have been compiled.
The picture that emerges is not one of a rash and impulsive citizen vigilante charging on a white horse to save a beleaguered nation, even if that is his current public persona.
Instead, it is a man who sees the law primarily as a tool for development and democracy at the raw and instinctive levels.
In a recent presentation at a ceremony, Mr Amidu told graduating lawyers: “You should be a lawyer who is an honest and sincere servant of the Constitution and laws of Ghana who will die serving his people rather than use his superior knowledge of law for unjust enrichment at their expense”.
There is even more evidence of his commitment to the law and public service in the many exchanges with his former Deputy at the Attorney General’s Office and the Solicitor General in the tumultuous days leading to his dismissal after almost one year in office.
The picture one forms is that of a struggle between competing visions of the law and public service in the era of feverish politics and personal self-interest.
It is a matter of principle and conscience whom one chooses to believe in these matters but we could only hope that the full scope of correspondence between government ministries and all other entities involved in the judgement debt saga will eventually be made available, possibly through the on-going enquiry into judgement debts.
An interesting aspect of Mr Amidu’s career is how politics intersects with the law and public service and the priorities he ascribes to these separate but intertwining parts of his life.
There is a particular case that best illustrates the point I am making. Mr Amidu has explained how he stood against a recommendation to pay GH¢38 million settlement for alleged wrongful dismissal of workers of the National Mobilisation Programme (NMP), by Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey in a pending court case that had been brought by the dismissed workers against the Attorney-General.
He queried the settlement which had been proposed by his deputy, Mr Ebo Barton Odro, on legal and procedural grounds and then makes the following remark: “I queried the settlement and instructed that the court be allowed to determine whether or not there was wrongful dismissal.
I pointed out that unless the court determined that Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey had indeed wrongfully dismissed the workers it was foolhardy (sic) for me as the Attorney-General to settle the matter on the basis of wrongful dismissal and pretend that my decision could be used to prosecute Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey for causing financial loss to the state…
As a former PNDC operative, my decision in the NMP settlement case, a temptation put in my path, was difficult for me as a politician. But I was acting not as Minister of State, a politician, but as the Attorney-General of the Republic, a quasi-judicial officer, who has faith in the judicial system to determine the issues presented to the court by the parties”.
In plain language, Mr Amidu spurned the chance to use such a juicy opportunity to nail a principal political opponent while “helping” his comrades from PNDC days.
This must be a person who is either a saint or politically naïve; I don’t think there are any living saints this side of Nelson Mandela, but Mr Amidu is not politically naïve. It is obvious that for him public service is a matter of principle and service to Ghana cannot be compromised.
Naturally, no politician or office holder will say anything different, and over the past three decades we have seen an army of politicians profess lofty principles of accountability while doing the exact opposite in practice but Mr Amidu’s credo sounds true to his principles.
The same cannot be said about politicians from both sides of the great political gulf who are “politically” hailing Mr Amidu as a hero. For the opposition NPP, the former Attorney General is now a big stick with which to hit the government party, while the NDC has lately discovered that it is in its interest to re-align with its former vice presidential candidate.
For most Ghanaians however, Mr Amidu’s political colours appear to mean less in a period when genuine heroes are few and far between.
Comments in the media (old and new) show that a majority of Ghanaians do not only endorse what he is doing but also wish more of us could do the same. This is beyond party politics.
By Kwasi Gyan Apenteng
Email: [email protected] or kgapenteng.blogspot.com