Visa fraud: Refer conduct of MPs to police - Amidu urges Speaker
A former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mr Martin Amidu, has questioned why the Speaker of Parliament did not timeously refer the case of visa fraud by a former and three sitting Members of Parliament (MPs) to the police for investigations when his (Speaker’s) attention was drawn to it as far back as January 2017.
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According to him, after three whole months since the incident was reported, the explanation from the Office of the Speaker that the matter would be dealt with in accordance with the law, as it affected the integrity and reputation of Parliament, looked belated.
In a statement issued last Tuesday, Mr Amidu, who is an anti-corruption campaigner, said it gave the impression that if the whistle blower had not blown the whistle, “this matter may as well have been covered up or window-dressed”.
“Consequently, even though the British High Commission wrote to the Speaker of Parliament upon his inaugural undertaking, this matter should have been disposed of by the Speaker timeously, as he had no jurisdiction, by referring the High Commission’s letter to the Police Service for investigations in accordance with the laws of Ghana.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was also at liberty to act administratively under the law dealing with the issuance of passports and travel documents,” he said.
Leaked letter
The British High Commissioner, Mr Jon Benjamin, had written a confidential letter to the Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Mike Oquaye, in January 2017, accusing a former and three sitting MPs of engaging in visa fraud by facilitating the entry into and over-stay of some of their supposed relatives in the United Kingdom (UK), using their diplomatic passports.
A whistle blower leaked the said confidential letter to the media last week, and following the subsequent condemnation of the MPs by the public, some MPs have jumped to the defence of their colleagues and rather pointed accusing fingers at the High Commissioner as the source of the leak, describing him as a “media freak”
No jurisdiction
But reacting to the exposure in a statement, Mr Amidu, otherwise known as ‘Citizen Vigilante’, indicated that the events narrated in the British High Commission’s letter had occurred at various times within the life of the fifth and sixth Parliaments which had ceased to exist under Article 113 of the 1992 Constitution.
“I do not think that the Seventh Parliament has any jurisdiction to exact any punishment from the one former (NDC) MP under the Fifth Parliament and the three (NPP) MPs under the Sixth Parliament for offences committed in previous Parliaments that have already been dissolved by law.
“The dissolution of those Parliaments did not affect whatever criminal offences involving fraud, dishonesty or moral turpitude the MPs might have been suspected of committing outside Parliament when they were MPs in the fifth and the sixth Parliaments,” he said.
‘Shameful insults’
Touching on the attacks on the personality of Mr Benjamin, Mr Amidu said: “I have read and followed the publications on the online media since 26th April, 2017 in which some members of Ghana’s 7th Parliament have made needless derogatory comments about H.E. Jon Benjamin, the High Commissioner of the United kingdom to Ghana, for a letter he signed on behalf of the High Commission in Ghana.”
He described the verbal attacks and insults on the British High Commissioner by the MPs, including the First Deputy Speaker, Mr Joe Osei-Owusu, and Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, as shameful.
“It is a shame that while the Speaker of Parliament appears belatedly from abroad to be urging the use of temperate language in this matter by members of Parliament, his First Deputy Speaker already led the pack of some of his members to attack the integrity of the British High Commissioner and his government without any just cause.
“Instead of the acting Speaker of Parliament and other members shamelessly insulting the British High Commissioner for his letter which, in my opinion, sought to defend the dignity of the Parliament established under the 1992 Constitution, Parliament should rather be explaining to the sovereign people of Ghana why this matter was not referred to the police for investigation for three whole months before the whistle blower blew the whistle to the public,” he indicated.
Who leaked it?
He said the only fact supporting the likelihood that the High Commissioner personally leaked his letter to the Speaker appears to be what the First Deputy Speaker was reported to have told Starr FM the previous day: “I think that that High Commissioner, in so many instances, has acted in ways that in my view transcends the bounds of decency and propriety.”
“The insults coming from MPs from both sides of Parliament give the impression that Parliament is more hysterical about its reputation being brought into disrepute through the exposure of dishonourable conduct by its members than maintaining the honour and dignity of the institution of Parliament through a transparent, fair and credible constitutional process of dealing with members who bring the reputation of the institution into disrepute.
“But no institutional reputation can be achieved by covering up or insulting, or citing or threatening to cite whistle blowers or potential whistle blowers for contempt or abuse,” Mr Amidu said.
He said the institutional reputation of Parliament was endangered when a majority of citizens, civil society organisations and foreign embassies and other missions in Ghana perceived attempts to maintain Parliament’s integrity as a mere window dressing.
Mr Amidu invited patriotic citizens to join in the condemnation of the unwarranted attacks and shameful insults on the High Commissioner and his government who only sought to defend the honour and dignity of Parliament, as enshrined in the 1992 Constitution, by pointing out past misconduct and suspected crime of some MPs.
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