Martin Amidu : The hero of our time
We have always talked about patriotism and statesmanship, but I can confidently say that in my lifetime I did not see any Ghanaian practically showing these virtues until Mr Martin A. B. K. Amidu sacrificed his ministerial position to fight corruption in his own government.
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Amidu served as the Deputy Attorney General and Minister of Justice in the last four years of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC), and in the same capacity for the entire eight-year term of President Jerry Rawlings’s tenure under the National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration spanning 1992 - 2001.
In the December 2000 presidential election, Amidu was chosen by then candidate John Evans Atta Mills as his running mate but they lost the election. When Atta Mills became president in 2009, Amidu became the Interior Minister in January 2010 before he was moved in the second reshuffle by Mills, and made the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General in January 2011.
Surprisingly, Martin Amidu was sacked on Thursday, January 19, 2012, by President Atta Mills for what his aides described as “misconduct” at a meeting chaired by the President. A statement from the Presidency said, “Amidu’s behaviour is incompatible with acceptable standards expected of ministers and appointees of the President.”
It later became clear that his alleged misconduct was his allegation of crime against some ministers in the government, for which he was demanded to substantiate. It was during the period of his allegations that he made the word ‘gargantuan’ active in the Ghanaian lexicon.
The GH¢51.2 million which Mr Alfred Agbesi Woyome was said to have taken from the state wrongfully has had a long national discussion, even taking a political colouration, yet no one knew whether or not the money would ever be retrieved for the state.
The sad aspect is that the state, which through the government and its officers had conceded that Woyome was not due that money and that he allegedly fraudulently took the money from the state, appeared not committed to retrieving the money.
It is, therefore, very remarkable that Martin Amidu, as an individual citizen, had to be compelled by his patriotism and nationalism to single-handedly spend his own resources to take the matter to the Supreme Court, and in the end got a judgement for the state to retrieve the money. Mr Amidu had, prior to this feat, also won judgement for the state to retrieve 25 million euros from another Woyome-related company, Waterville.
This is no mean achievement, and Amidu deserves the high commendation of the state and all Ghanaians. For me, Martin Alimisi Amidu is the real hero of our time and we must sing him, though the man’s extraordinary humility does not allow him to take this glory when one tells him.
The Supreme Court ruling and the statements made by the judges need to be seriously scrutinised. It is hard to believe that Mrs Betty Mould-Iddrisu, with all her legal pedigree and as Attorney General, sanctioned the payment of the money when such an action was clearly inconsistent with and in contravention of Article 18(5) of the 1992 Constitution.
According to Mr Justice A. A. Bennin, the judgement Woyome obtained is “tainted with illegality and is thus unenforceable,” yet Mrs Mould-Iddrisu didn’t see anything wrong with the payment of that colossal sum.
Mr Ebow Barton-Oduro, as then Deputy Attorney General, in many media discussion, statements and interviews, stated emphatically that the state (Ghana) had no case, hence it was right and justifiable that Woyome took the money.
The question which arises now is what happens to Mrs Mould-Iddrisu, Mr Barton-Odro and the team of government ministers and communications team members who turned themselves into public relations officers for Woyome, and publicly said the payment was right? In functional democracies, such people would have resigned their positions.
As it is in our situation, where ministers do not resign for such serious infractions, the government and, for that matter, the President, should have sacked them immediately. I’m not sure what the parliamentary standing orders stipulate, but in my view, Ebow Barton-Odro has lost all respect to be the country’s first Deputy Speaker of Parliament and must, therefore, be shown the exit if our democracy should have any respect.
All such people who played any part in paying Woyome the undeserved money must also be dragged to court for prosecution- for causing financial loss to the state. No one needs to tell us how much GH¢51.2 million could do for this cash-strapped nation; we go borrowing and begging for crumbs all the time before we can have road, water and electricity, not to talk about sanitary pads for schoolgirls.
By the way, when can we get our GH¢51.2 million from Woyome?
PS: Mr Inspector-General of Police, having openly accepted that the Police Service had done some wrong in recent past, would you please respond to the children and widow of Adjei Akpor, the 22-year-old man your men killed at Adenta on January 6, 2014, and give them justice? This is the 29th week since the man was killed. One lawyer has graciously offered to take up this case. I will identify him with his permission in due course. Meanwhile, we still await other human rights lawyers to join in fighting this case for the defenceless family.
The author is a journalist and political scientist. He is the Head of the Department of Media and Communication Studies, Pentecost University College, Accra. - [email protected]
