President nominates Martin Amidu as Independent Prosecutor

Accra, Jan. 11, - President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Thursday named former Attorney-General, Mr Martin A. B. K. Amidu as nominee for Ghana's first independent Special Prosecutor.

    

His nomination is however subject to Parliamentary approval. And the President is to forward same to the Legislature when the House reconvenes on January 23, 2018.

    

Mr Amidu, an astute politician and anti-corruption campaigner, was the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice from January 2011 to January 2012.

    

He is noted for his relentless campaign against the abuse of public funds, evident in the role he played in the State Versus Woyome in the famous Waterville financial saga.

   

At a press conference at the Flagstaff House in Accra, President Akufo-Addo said Attorney General, Gloria Akuffo, by letter dated Thursday, January 11, 2018, exercised her power of nomination, and submitted to him, for his acceptance, the name of Martin Amidu as the proposed Special Prosecutor.

    

“I have accepted the Attorney General’s nomination, and will, in turn, submit for Parliament’s approval, when it reconvenes on January 23, 2018, for its first meeting of this new year, the name of Martin Amidu to be the first Special Prosecutor under the law”, he said.

    

The President told the media that he was fully convinced Mr Amidu had the "requisite integrity, competence, courage and independence of character to discharge effectively the responsibilities of this new office."

   

Vouching for Mr Amidu's public spiritedness, the President said “We were on opposite sides in a series of landmark constitutional cases in the period leading up to and in the early years of the 4th Republic, well known to students of constitutional law, which helped shape the evolution of the Constitution of the 4th Republic. As Deputy Attorney General, as he then was, he conducted those cases with fairness, which should be a cardinal feature of the conduct of any self-respecting lawyer."

    

President Akufo-Addo said Mr Amidu had indicated his willingness to accept the appointment.

    

“I congratulate him on his deserved nomination, and wish him Godspeed in the valiant efforts he will undoubtedly be making to enhance the quality of governance of our country. The Ghanaian people will be the beneficiaries of that,” the President concluded.

    

The office of the Special Prosecutor would lead the fight against corruption and hold public officials both former and present accountable for graft of the Public purse.

GNA