Civil servants make work difficult – Martin Amidu threatens to act against AG

General News on Wednesday, July 17, 2019

Source: Graphic.com.gh

2019-07-17

The Special Prosecutor, Mr. Martin B. B. K. Amidu, has strongly criticized some public institutions for making his fight against corruption difficult.

According to him, the heads of the institutions were either unable to disclose information or deliberately withhold information needed to fight corruption in Ghana.

A statement issued yesterday by Mr. Amidu in Accra, titled "Challenges of the Office of the Special Prosecutor in the Fight Against Corruption in Ghana," said that his team would be obliged to sue public institutions and the Attorney General (AG if the problem arose. persisted.

"The Law on the Special Prosecutor's Office empowers the office to compel the production of information and documents in court against any public institution that fails or refuses to honor its legitimate request" , did he declare.

Highlighting his frustrations as Special Prosecutor, Mr. Amidu told the Daily Graphic, during an interview in Accra, that he was aware that the President had personally intervened three times to incite some heads of institutions to cooperate with his (Mr. Amidu) Bureau.

According to him, "my office wrote one of the letters in October 2018, requesting information and documents, but we did not even receive an acknowledgment of receipt."

PRINT COURT He stated that the case in question was a very important corruption investigation, but that officials were frustrating his office regarding the disclosure of information and required documents.

Mr. Amidu further disclosed that he had written to another public institution in March 2018, shortly after his appointment as Special Prosecutor, but that this institution was yet to provide the information.

"I do not remind department heads to provide information to my office; my message is also addressed to the president. He needs to know that my office is frustrated, "he said.

Asked what his office would do after his last warning to the public authorities, stifling his work, Mr. Amidu replied: "Do not worry; the public will hear from my office at the right time. "

Constrain

In his statement of July 15, 2019, Mr. Amidu said: "This office can also seize the High Court to compel the heads of institutions to respect the laws that support the fight against corruption. The consequence will be that, in accordance with the rules of civil procedure, this office will have to pursue the A-G as a representative of the state. "

He insisted that "those who know the history and character of the special prosecutor know that he is ready, able and willing to follow this path if it was the only option left at the office for s & d. Effectively discharge the anti-corruption mandate entrusted to it. by the Ghanaian people, who supported his appointment ".

"Let everyone remember that when this day comes, there will be no more bipartisan eulogy for the government – it will become a partisan political power game. Those who think that it speaks too much or complains too much must remember that a stitch in time saves nine, "he warned.

Reporting on the support he had received so far, Mr. Amidu said: "The President, the Minister of Finance, the Chief of Staff, the Auditor General, the Human Rights Commission, and the Minister of Finance. man and administrative justice and financial intelligence center have the office up to now. "

However, he said, the responses of other institution officials to the instructions given by the executive seemed to have been treated with impunity in the extent of the files.

"Corruption can not be fought against the alleged reputation of a few people. Every citizen must be involved now before the chancre consumes all of the body's politics, "he said.

challenges

According to Mr. Amidu, the biggest challenge facing the office as an investigative and anti-corruption body, despite all the powers conferred on it, was not the President, who had promised the Ghanaian people to create this office.

On the contrary, he said, the challenge came from "institutional leaders who simply refuse to comply with laws aimed at ensuring good governance and protecting national finances by fighting corruption".

According to him, "the heads of institutions generously misunderstand the statutory requests made by the information bureau and the production of documents to badist in the investigation of corruption and corruption cases." corruption-related offenses, even though the President had, on several occasions, reprimanded them for such misconduct ".

Mr. Amidu said that some of the heads of institutions were used to undermining the independence of his office by deliberately conducting simultaneous investigations within his jurisdiction, "in the sole aim to stop investigations of corruption and corruption-related offenses. "

The discipline

"By acting officials who fully attend the trials and who receive a salary, without being banned, according to the laws and regulations of the civil service, he said:" What is worrying for this office, as a ", anti-corruption, investigative and prosecutorial organization the refusal of heads of institutions to take steps to enforce basic rules of discipline governing their institutions, even when they know that their agents are under investigation, have been cautioned, have been released on bail and have even been charged with bribery and corruption-related offenses. "

"Unfortunately, the experience of the special prosecutor's office is that when it comes to corruption and corruption-related crimes, the heads of institutions believe that the rules on the prohibition and / or indefinite permission of officials do not apply to corruption. related offenses, "he added.

Highlighting his frustrations, Mr. Amidu said that officials had been indicted and brought before the High Court and their applications had been heard, but only to enable them to return to their workplace. Hajia Hawa Ninchema and five other officials who were currently on trial for their alleged involvement in procurement violations involving the purchase of an ambulance.

Legislature

He stated that "the perception that corruption and corruption-related offenses are a systemic and ubiquitous enterprise in Ghana is clearly demonstrated when the Special Prosecutor's Office dared to accuse and judge before the High Court a member of the United Nations." political elite (a Member of Parliament, in this case) and some public officials for abusing their public office on their own account and for violating Ghana's public procurement laws ".

He noted that "a legislature and bipartisan executive bodies immediately invited the special prosecutor to pledge to usurp the court's discretion by agreeing with the accused's lawyer to special days for the instruction of the case ".

Mr. Amidu said that the Legislative Assembly, whose members also constituted the majority of the ministers of the executive, has taken a further step in a bipartisan way to try to guide the court. in writing in the exercise of its discretion to manage its own procedures in the same manner. name of parliamentary immunity.

"A country in which the parliament and the executive coordinate in a bipartisan manner to delay trials and bring justice within a reasonable time to the prosecution of corruption of one of its members can not seriously convince the outside world that he does not just say lip service against the chancre, "he said.

He added that the Special Prosecutor's Office could not fight corruption without the full support of civil society and civil society by lobbying the political elite for it to respect the laws allowing it to fulfill his mandate.