When President Nana Akuffo Addo took the highly unusual decision to appoint the pugnacious and controversial Mr. Martin Amidu as the Special Prosecutor, it raised many eyebrows for a variety of reasons. The appointment had suspicions and political overtones written all over it.
Many saw the elevation of Mr. Amidu, a known provocateur and political dissident, as a slap in the face of the opposition NDC which the ruling NPP had accused of massive corruption in the 2016 election campaign. Mr. Amidu, in the calculations of the NPP, was thus the right tool to use against its nemesis.
Mr. Amidu’s battles with the NDC are legendary and well documented. The party that gave him his political foundation and thrust him into the public domain, suddenly became a thorn in his flesh, or so Mr. Amidu thought.
He felt the NDC had abandoned him. He was certainly not a happy camper and he looked for ways to exact vengeance, to get his pound of flesh. The NPP gave him that opening.
But what was seen as a marriage of convenience between the NPP and Mr. Amidu has morphed into a marriage of turbulence and upheaval. For almost a year since his appointment, much was not heard from the contentious Mr. Amidu. He had been quiet, much out of character for the combative Mr. Anti Corruption.
However, it was all a sham. The Special Prosecutor was just bidding his time before he exploded in his usual fashion. And boy, did he explode last week when he complained bitterly of neglect and abandonment by the government.
Mr. Amidu beef with the government was that his office was not being resourced enough to enable him carry out the huge responsibility he has been tasked with — mainly probing alleged cases of corruption among public officials, past and present.
Not unexpected, the NPP forcefully rejected Mr. Amidu’s claims, contending that it had provided him with the wherewithal to make his work smooth and easy. The attorney general, Mrs. Gloria Akuffo Addo was unremitting in refuting the Special Prosecutor’s charges.
She called Mr. Amidu dishonest. So did Mr. Jinapor, a senior official at the presidency. And the President on his return from New York, said he will see to it that Mr. Amidu gets all the resources he needs to run his office efficiently.
The fallout between Mr. Amidu and the government was not in the least unexpected. We all saw this coming, it was just a matter of time before the massive explosion. Anyone remotely familiar with Mr. Amidu’s temperament would have told you that this was bound to happen, sooner or later.
Impatient and quick to rush to conclusions, Mr. Amidu has once again demonstrated why he should not have been given such a high profile position.
A true and committed public official would have discussed these problems behind closed doors with his employers. But Mr. Amidu chose to go public with his discontent, smearing the government in the process.
I don’t shed tears for the NPP; it got exactly what it bargained for. It thought it was sticking it to the NDC by appointing Mr. Amidu as the Special Prosecutor. Instead, it got somebody who is turning the tables on it. Apparently, the party has bitten more it can chew.
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