Why Mahama's posturing on judicial corruption is hypocritical – Martin Amidu
'Citizen Vigilante' and former Attorney-General, Mr Martin Amidu, has accused President John Mahama and Attorney-General Marietta Brew-Oppong of using the results of the judicial corruption investigation undertaken by journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas to obscure what he said was ‘gargantuan’ corruption in government and the legislature.
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He made the point in an article published on GraphicOnline on Monday.
Describing the development as nauseating, Mr Amidu condemned the A-G for, according to him, “hypocritically and opportunistically” calling upon the Chief Justice to restore the integrity of the Judiciary and also declaring that the culprits would be investigated and prosecuted by her office.
He said President Mahama, in what he described as a “holier than thou” posturing, also stated that his government would punish those culpable in the scandal.
According to him, those comments by the President and the A-G were hypocritical because the two individuals had failed to retrieve over GH₵51 illegally paid to businessman Alfred Agbesi Woyome.
Mr Amidu said: “In the euphoria of emotions and public reaction to the judicial scandal expose the President and the Attorney General might have forgotten the saying that one must remove the moth in one’s eyes before removing the spec in another’s.
“The President and his Attorney General may be controlling the prosecutorial process of this nation for the time being but that does not make the saying that “justice is might” or “might is justice” right in purposefully using judicial corruption to hide political corruption in any form.
“This so called social democratic government has failed to retrieve the over GH₵51million and €47million corruptly paid to an NDC financier and other surrogate ordered by the Supreme Court to be refunded to the Republic but has shamelessly and unlawfully commissioned agents to divert attention from Gargantuan political corruption.”
Mr Amidu also alleged that it was the late President John Atta Mills who recruited Anas to collaborate with some security agencies to undertake the judicial corruption investigation which exposed monumental bribery and corruption in the judiciary, involving over 180 workers, including 34 judges.
He asserted that the late President commissioned a two-pronged investigation targeting the judiciary and parliament, but while the current President, John Mahama, has sanctioned the release of the results of judiciary investigation to the public, he has compromised and suppressed the results involving parliament.
The former A-G also called the integrity of Anas Aremeyaw into question, suggesting that the ace anti-corruption crusader has been compromised.
Implying that Anas is complicit in the alleged plan by the President to suppress the parliamentary anti-corruption investigation results, Mr Amidu said: “An anticorruption activist or journalist must be a man of the highest integrity himself! He cannot be a government agent under any excuse.”
“Let the judiciary be exposed but it is unjust to hide the other evidence of corruption obtained by the same anti-corruptionpreneurs,” he added, saying: “He who comes to equity must come with clean hands.”
