Parliament urged not to wade into Amidu’s allegation
An Accra-based private legal practitioner, Nana Adjei Ampofo, has urged Parliament to leave Mr Martin Amidu’s allegation against the 5th and 6th Parliaments as it is, and refrain from any attempts to drag him to the Privileges Committee.
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He cautioned that any attempt to threaten Mr Amidu with contempt or any punitive action could “open a can of worms.”
Mr Amidu, an Attorney-General and Minister of Justice under the late President Mills administration, in his latest epistle, had alleged corruption against the last two Parliaments.
He had alleged that, “The partisanship, cronyism, patronage, ethnicity and endemic corruption of the looter governments of the Fifth and Sixth Governments of the Fourth Republic had been allowed by the majority to infect the fabric and conduct of Legislative business in the House.
“ Corruption became endemically pervasive in the Fifth and Sixth Parliaments because of the deliberate acts of infection by the Presidents and governments whose members made up the majority in those Parliaments,” he stated.
Reaction of MPs
Some Members of Parliament (MPs) who felt the allegation was an unjustifiable dent on the image of the House, had been pushing for the former Attorney-General to be dragged to the Privileges Committee to prove his claim, but Nana Ampofo said Parliament must put the matter to rest.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday, Nana Ampofo, who is a former Chairman of the National Lands Commission, stated that the Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Mike Oquaye, was “ very prudent and wise” when he deferred discussions on the matter when it came up in the House.
Warning
The legal practitioner, who is also an ex-Omanhene of Goaso, indicated that Mr Amidu had been in government before and could be holding some information on what he was talking about.
“If they try to commit him for contempt, he may be forced to make disclosures that will not help,” Nana Ampofo warned.
He further observed that Mr Amidu might not be talking about only the last two Parliaments but other Parliaments as well.
“It will be strange for Martin Amidu to say anything without any knowledge of it,” he said.