TUC urges Martin Amidu to live up to expectation

Accra, Jan. 12, - The Trades Union Congress (TUC) of Ghana has given thumbs up to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for appointing Mr Martin Amidu as the first Independent Special Prosecutor, urging the latter to live up to expectation. 

  

The TUC believed that the appointment of Martin Amidu showed the commitment of the President to fight corruption to the end and ensure that the menace was eradicated from the country.

  

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Mr Joshua Ansah, the Deputy Secretary General of the Union, said he was overwhelmed when the news came to his attention on Thursday evening.

  

He said the appointment of Mr Amidu had proven wrong, all people who thought that the President would be appointing people from the New Patriotic Party (NPP), saying if Mr Amidu was able to fight his own political party, it was an indication that no one would be left off the hook.

  

He said the appointment reiterated the President’s commitment to fighting corruption no matter those involved, adding “It tells us that the government is very serious about fighting corruption”.

  

“There are a lot of good lawyers, people with integrity and very knowledgeable in his (the President’s) Party, but the President has lived above partisanship for appointing someone who is not from his Party,” he said.  

  

He noted that Mr Amidu’s appointment sent a strong signal to people in government that “no matter the political colour you wear, Martin would not spare you if you fall foul to the law”.

  

Mr Ansah said the TUC expected that when approved by Parliament, Mr Amidu would retrieve all public funds that have gone into wrong hands to advance the development agenda of the country.

  

He urged Mr Amidu to go after everybody saying, it was the highest interest of TUC that corruption was clamped down completely in the Ghanaian society.

  

He said the TUC expected that Mr Amidu would bring to book, any individual from the NPP or the National Democratic Congress, who had worked in a public office and had links with any act of corruption.

  

The Union expected that when he was able to retrieve the monies, it would be saved to enhance the National Health Insurance, payment of trainee allowances, the creating of more jobs and human resource development.

  

Mr Ansah advised all workers and leaders to deliver their best and stay clean in whatever they did, adding that “If you are in a leadership position, know that you will be called someday to account for your stewardship”. 

  

President Akufo-Addo on Thursday, January 11, this year, announced the nomination of Mr Amidu as the first Independent Special Prosecutor in the annals of Ghana.

   

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

GNA