[ 2021-02-19 ]

Amidu was wrong on Agyapa deal – Samson Lardy Anyenini
Mistakes have been made in believing that because
Martin Amidu was a citizen vigilante, anything he
does or says is good and is correct, private legal
practitioner Samson Lardy Anyenini has said.


According to him, Mr Amidu was wrong on the
position that he took on the Agyapa Royalties
Agreement when he was the Special Prosecutor.



Mr Anyenini said this while discussing a comment
made by Attorney General nominee Godfred Dame on
the way and manner Mr Amidu handled the corruption
risks assessment report.

Godfred Dame noted that the former Special
Prosecutor was not mandated under law to present a
copy of his assessment report on the Agyapa
Royalties agreement to the president. He said this
during his vetting by the Appointments Committee
of Parliament on Friday, February 12, 2021.

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During his vetting, Ranking Member Haruna Iddrisu
asked him: “You are saying that the Special
Prosecutor was not required to present the report
to who?”

“To the President,” Dame answered, adding that
“he was not required to present the report to
the president. I don’t see anywhere in ACT 959
that mandates the Special Prosecutor to present a
copy of the report to the president”.



“He presented a copy of the report to the
president and in doing so he himself spelt out the
rationale for doing so. His letter written to the
president stated that whatever he did was to guide
future actions,” the former Deputy Attorney
General said.

Mr Amidu on Monday, November 2, 2020, having
finished a corruption-risk assessment of the
transaction, submitted a report to the president.

“The analysis of the risk of corruption and
anti-corruption assessment was completed and
signed by the Special Prosecutor on 15th October
2020.

“The Special Prosecutor in a letter with
reference number OSP/SCR/20/12/20 dated 16th
October 2020 conveyed the conclusions and
observations of the anti-corruption assessment to
H. E. the President and the Hon. Minister of
Finance as a matter of courtesy before informing
the public.”



“Two weeks is more than too long for this Office
to continue withholding the announcement of the
completion of its sixty-four (64) page report to
the public.

“It is important that this Office has the
freedom to discharge its anti-corruption mandate
and keep the public informed. I have, therefore,
decided to bring the facts of the conclusion of
the anti-corruption assessment of the Agyapa
Royalties Transactions by this Office to the
attention of the public and to avoid the continued
speculations on this matter,” he said.

Exactly two weeks after submitting the report to
the President, Mr Amidu announced his resignation
from his post, citing interference by the
President as one of the reasons.

He said in his resignation letter to the
president: “It is essential for me to state for
the purpose of the records, and contrary to public
perceptions, that my appointment letter was
received on 5th February 2020 (almost two
(2)-years after my appointment).



“The copy addressees made no efforts to honour
any of the conditions of appointment in terms of
emoluments and benefits of the appointment ever
since my warrant of appointment was issued on 23rd
February 2018 to the date of my letter of
resignation. The Deputy Special Prosecutor has
also not been paid any emoluments since her
appointment, and there is the need to redress that
situation for her now that I am out of the way.

“The events of 12th November 2020 removed the
only protection I had from the threats and plans
directed at me for undertaking the Agyapa
Royalties Limited Transactions anti-corruption
assessment report and dictates that I resign as
the Special Prosecutor immediately.

“I should not ordinarily be announcing my
resignation to the public myself but the traumatic
experience I went through from 20th October 2020
to 2nd November 2020 when I conveyed in a thirteen
(13) page letter the conclusions and observations
on the analysis of the risk of corruption and
anti-corruption assessment on the Report On Agyapa
Royalties Limited Transactions and Other Matters
Related Thereto to the President as Chairman of
the National Security Council cautions against not
bringing my resignation as the Special Prosecutor
with immediate to the notice of the Ghanaian
public and the world.”

Contributing to a discussion on the vetting of Mr
Godfred Dame and his comment on Martin Amidu on
Good Evening Ghana, Mr Lardy Anyenini said
“Martin has his mistakes and sometimes we make
the mistake of thinking that because he was the
citizen vigilante, everything he does is good,
everything he says is correct.

“His approaches to interpreting the law, that I
can clearly go through and tell you he is wrong on
Agyapa.”

Source - 3 News

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