OPEN LETTER TO MARTIN AMIDU
Dear Mr Amidu, I pray this open letter finds you in good health. I wish this would have been posted and treated as an individual’s contribution towards the development of our dear cherished nation, a nation you have shown in the past that you love so much. Why am I writing this letter to you? You may be curious but I know you already know the answer.
You are the public prosecutor and overwhelming Ghanaians were so happy when you were selected by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo. It looks like Asiedu Nkatiah was right when he said immediately after your selection that you would not fight any corruption. I was very angry with him and I said to myself, he said that to spite you because you were going to get at them as the then Presidential candidate had said during the 2016 campaigning for votes. As things are, you have proved him right. In Ghana we eat and drink excuse so your silence would not be given any other meaning except to say, the usual layback attitude of ours has reared its head that is why you have been very inactive.
Mr Amidu, I have never worked in the public service so it would be very unfair on me to pass any judgement on you but as someone widely acclaimed for the work you had done for Ghana in the past concerning corruption, it is very strange that up till today, you have not come out to give the nation any hope that at least as a nation we are serious about fighting corruption. You have surprised me and I hope you would care to respond to me. I am just like you, I like writing and when I write, most of them are matters concerning our nation’s future for the yet unborn generation who will come after we have played our part and gone. My fear is that, we shall play the usual politics of fault finding but fail to act when it matters.
There was this initial complaint that you had no office space. Then later you came out to say though you have an office it is not suitably equipped and resourced. In the 2018 budget an allocation of over GHS180million was allocated to your office and up till this morning I am typing this letter nobody has been convicted of any crime of financial loss to the state. When Ghana did not have any Special Prosecutor’s Office during President Kufuor’s time certain politicians who had caused financial loss to the state were charged and convicted and the irony now is, we now have a statutory body mandated to prosecute and convict those who have caused financial loss to the state and nothing is moving forward. Could you please explain to me and the good people of Ghana why it is so?
Finally, they say in Ghana there are some “SUPER HUMAN BEIGNS” who are called the untouchable above reproach and I want to know are they the ones holding you back? As you may be aware, the ineffective Ghana Police keep telling us that, they are always impeded in their fight against crime because these people, I name “Super human beings” who are categorised as ORDER from above are making it difficult for you to do your job. What is happening Mr Amidu, remember the 1992 Constitution and the very Act that set up your office obligates you to inform us at regular intervals what is happening in the fight against corruption. It is time for us to know these ORDER from above and shame them, otherwise, we shall continue wallowing in poverty as our resources would always find themselves in the hands of these unscrupulous law breakers who always get away just because there is order from above.
Ghana, a very beautiful nation but sadly enough we cannot boast of even TEN patriotic people who can stake their necks out for Ghana to weed out corruption. In other countries they work very hard to identify the causes of their under development and when they do discover the problem, they do not gloss over it but they work hard and honestly to remove it. In Ghana, we have known the problem to the extent that THREE former heads of state, though never tried by Court of law were executed and others followed but up till today, no public office holder wants to help us remove or reduce this canker destroying us.
Mr Amidu, go public, whoever is holding you back, do the right thing let us know and if need be, society will embark upon protests and demonstration to give you the backing you need to do your job. Let us know why you of all people have been very inactive.
Thank you very much.
K Owusu-Ansah
www.ghanamindset.com