[ 2012-06-26 ]

Former A-G, Martin Amidu

Bring your evidence of corruption against me; Martin Amidu dares NDC rented pres
Former Attorney-General, Mr Martin A. B. K. Amidu,
has challenged his critics to report him to the
police if they have a scintilla of evidence of
corrupt practices involving him.

He said he had all his life accounted for every
penny given to him by the state and returned what
he was not entitled to.

In a statement issued Tuesday, Mr Amidu said
"Anybody who has evidence that I have breached
those objects and values of the Constitution and
the NDC should make a report against me to the
Police so I can have my day in Court instead of
attacking my person without any evidence
whatsoever."

Read the full statement below:

Martin Amidu and the skeletons in his cupboard: BY
Martin A. B. K. Amidu

I have since 3 January 2012 heard, and read from
the NDC media unproven allegations against me for
habouring skeletons in my cupboard including
corrupt practices such as receiving bribes as
Attorney-General, and the exposure of my
(nonexistent extra-marital) sexual life while I
occupied the high office of the Attorney-General.
As a human being I do not claim to be perfect. I
strive to love my neighbour as myself but not more
than myself. I am willing to learn from my faults,
perceived crimes, and misdeeds. I cannot, however
learn from following red herrings without more.

I am the outcome of the family and the cultural
society which brought me up. My late father, a
retired Sergeant Major in the Gold Coast Regiment,
a Sergeant in the Preventive Customs Marine Police
Service, a Corporal in the Border Guard, and later
a Sergeant in the Ghana Police Service, and my
mother brought me up to be disciplined, honest,
and to defend my world view of the truth at all
times. Mr. Sydney A. Abugri gave a resume of my
life story in one of his columns in the People’s
Daily Graphic in 2000 from his personal and
intimate knowledge of me as we grew up living,
attending school, and playing together in Bawku as
children and later as adults parting ways into
different professions.

One of the reasons why Ghanaians punished the
National Democratic Congress (NDC) under the
candidacy of then Vice President Atta Mills and my
poor self in the 2000 election by voting against
us was for perceived corruption in Government. My
letter to former President Rawlings dated 3rd June
1999 has already been put in the public domain to
demonstrate not only my consistent attitude in
defence of the independence of the judiciary but
also my consistent fight against corruption and
the theft of any property of “We the People”.

I retired my incidental accountable imprests
throughout my service to the PNDC and NDC1 and
NDC2 at a time when Nana Ato Dadzie, as PNDC
Secretary to the Chairman of the PNDC and later
Chief of Staff had not issued his famous reminder
to those who had not been doing so, to do so and
to submit their receipts to his office. I raise
this matter now just to confirm what well meaning
and informed people have already said about my
attitude towards graft in public office when I was
the running mate to the then NDC Candidate in the
2000 Elections, Vice President Atta Mills, and
since my exit from office on 19th January 2012. I
thank all the people who rose to my defense
without any prompting from me but solely in
defense of truth, fairness and justice.

I assumed office as the Minister of the Interior
on or about 22nd February 2010. A foreign trip was
waiting for me to attend a meeting in Geneva,
Switzerland from 8th – 12th March 2010. I refused
to make the trip in order to know the
responsibilities of my Ministry as my first
priority. The Chief Director attended in my place.
I attended a number of foreign conferences or
seminars during my tenure in the Ministry of the
Interior and retired the accountable imprests to
the amazement of some of the officers who did not
know me well. I assumed duties in the Office of
the Attorney-General from 22nd January 2011 to
19th January 2012, and I also attended a number of
conferences and seminars. I retired each
accountable imprest that was given to me for each
trip. At the end of each year I wrote to the Chief
of Staff notifying him of the retirement of all my
accountable imprests. I remember a retired Army
General telling me on receipt of my first
notification that it was the first time he was
seeing such an exhaustive accountability.

At the Ministry of the Interior, on 18th May 2010
I retired my incidental accountable imprest and
balance of accommodation imprest of €740.00; on
4th June 2010 I retired the whole incidental
accountable imprest of US$500.00; on 14th October
2010 I retired the balance of US$282.00 on an
incidental accountable imprest of US$500.00; on
22nd October 2010 my then Deputy retired the
incidental accountable imprest of US$500.00
approved for me for a trip he undertook on my
behalf, and on 1st December 2010 I retired the
whole incidental accountable imprest of US$500.00
and a balance of accommodation imprest of
US$320.00 bringing the total to US$820.00.

At the Ministry of Justice, on 6th July 2011 the
balance of US$350.00 on an incidental accountable
imprest of US$500.00 was retired; on 27th July
2011 and 5th August 2011 I retired US$822.00 of 9
days per diem, US$4,010.00 balance on
accommodation imprest; and US$131.00 balance on my
incidental accountable imprest of US$500.00; on
19th August 2011 I retired a balance of US$750.00
on an incidental accountable imprest of
US$1,000.00; and on 16th January 2011 I surrounded
the accountable incidental imprest of US$500.00
and the whole of the accountable accommodation
imprest of US$3850.00 totaling US$4,350.00 to the
Acting Chief Director of the Ministry to be
retired to the Bank of Ghana. I requested him in
my letter of 20th January 2012 to notify the Chief
of Staff of the payment of the money to the Bank
of Ghana against the pay-in-slip receipt as I had
become functus officio on 19th January 2012.

The foregoing facts can be verified by any
doubting Thomases from the office of the Chief of
Staff, the Chief Directors of the Ministries I
served in, the Controller and Accountant-General,
and the Auditor-General, amongst several others
who were copy addressees. These letters were
originated by me; they are not classified either
as confidential or secret or any other
classification whatsoever to bring them within the
prohibitions of the State Secrets Act, 1962 (Act
101) which is inferior to the Constitution 1992. I
know the provisions of the 1992 Constitution and
the laws of Ghana so well after over 33 years as a
practicing lawyer (almost fourteen years of which
were spent in the Attorney-General’s Department as
the Deputy Attorney-General, and Attorney-General
of this Republic) to receive unsolicited advice
from those whose real intention has been to
intimidate me with possible breaches of Act 101.

I dutifully retired my accountable imprests at
times against admonishing from some staff of the
Bank of Ghana and latter some other public
officers because I was brought up to accept only
property of whatever nature to which I am
legitimately entitled by custom or law. It was
ingrained in Northern Ghanaian culture as one grew
up and my parents insisted upon strict compliance
with this norm and its internalization and
observance. I am sorry if any person gets offended
by my insistence on the protection of public
property and putting Ghana First because I was
molded with this world, social, and cultural view
to life and community which it is too late to
change.

I remain determined that the NDC shall live by its
core values of probity, transparency, and
accountability so that the NDC will continue to be
relevant in the politics of Ghana for years to
come for the sake of our children and those
unborn. Anybody who has evidence that I have
breached those objects and values of the
Constitution and the NDC should make a report
against me to the Police so I can have my day in
Court instead of attacking my person without any
evidence whatsoever. In this enterprise I fear no
cost to my person in contributing to the
realization of the vision of the NDC as a decent
political Party that was intended to be viable
beyond Election 2012. I understand these values of
the NDC to be aimed at putting Ghana First before
any individual’s selfish interests in Government.


Martin A. B. K. Amidu

Source - GRi

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