Amidu gets teeth to bite; law to fight corruption ready

The Special Prosecutor, Martin A. B. K. Amidu, is set to discharge his duties following the enactment of the enabling law backing his operations.

Defence Minister, Dominic Nitiwul, yesterday laid the Legislative Instrument (LI) in Parliament to give legal backing to the Office of the Special Prosecutor on behalf of the Attorney-General, Gloria Akuffo.

The L.I. which would mature in 21 days would bring into being regulations that would guide the operations of the Special Prosecutor’s Office.

The L.I, which is one of the instruments needed by the Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu to carry out his statutory obligations, has subsequently been presented to the Subsidiary Legislation Committee of Parliament for scrutiny and report to the plenary for approval.

It would define the scope of operations of the office in prosecuting its agenda.

In January 2018, Mr Amidu, a member of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), was appointed by President Akufo-Addo as the first Special Prosecutor amidst protest by the opposition NDC.

The government subsequently allocated an amount of GH¢180 million in the 2019 Budget for the operations of the Special Prosecutor’s Office.

During the 2016 campaign, the then candidate Nana Akufo-Addo promised to set up the Special Prosecutor Office to tackle corruption effectively.

According to Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, the funds would assist the Office of the Special Prosecutor in the fight against corruption in the country.

In March 2018, Martin Amidu complained about his inability to function efficiently due to the absence of allocation of funds to his office.

In accordance with the 2019 Budget presented by Ken Ofori-Atta in Parliament, he said the government would in the course of next year provide more resources for the Special Prosecutor to perform his duties without hitches.

“In line with government’s promise to protect the public purse, His Excellency the President remains committed to the fight against corruption. In this budget, the Special Prosecutor’s Office has been allocated an amount of GH¢180 million from GoG with a commitment to provide additional resources during the course of 2019 to enable the Special Prosecutor’s Office to carry out its mandate,” Finance Minister added.