Parliament approves Martin Amidu as Special Prosecutor

Parliament on Tuesday approved the nomination of Mr Martin Amidu as Special Prosecutor, despite an earlier request for the House to suspend the approval because of the pendency of a writ against his nomination at the Supreme Court.

The approval followed the consideration and adoption of the report of the Appointments Committee of Parliament (ACP) which had, by consensus, recommended Mr Amidu’s approval as Special Prosecutor.

When the Chairman of the ACP, Mr Joseph Osei-Owusu, began the presentation of the ACP's report, the MP for Bolgatanga East and former Deputy Attorney-General, Dr Dominic Ayine, rose on a point of order and indicated that he had filed a suit at the Supreme Court, challenging Mr Amidu’s qualification and that any comment or debate on his approval might prejudice the case.

He said it was important for the House to respect the doctrine of the separation of powers.

He said per the Standing Orders of the House, it should not go ahead to comment on Amidu's approval.

In Dr Ayine's suit, he claims that Mr Amidu, 66, is beyond the statutory age of employment into public service, for which he is seeking an order of the court to have Mr Amidu’s nomination annulled.

Statement of case

In a statement of case, Dr Ayine is praying the court to declare that "by a true and proper interpretation of articles 190 (1) (d) and 199 (4) of the 1992 Constitution, no person above the age of 65 years is eligible for employment in any public office created under Article 190(1) (d)".

The Majority Leader, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, said when a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alhaji Muhammed Mumuni, was being vetted, there was a case against him pending in the court but the House went ahead to approve his nomination, while a former Speaker of Parliament, Mrs Joyce Bamford Addo, had ruled that the House should continue the consideration of the STX housing scheme, even though there was a case pending in court on the matter.

He said even if Parliament approved the nomination, a decision of the Supreme Court could render it null and void.

Giving his ruling on that issue, the Speaker of Parliament, Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye, said the writ being sought and all relevant matters were not brought before the House

He said the mere filing of a writ could not prevent Parliament from going ahead to comment on Mr Amidu's qualification or approve of his nomination, otherwise Parliament would be subjugated.

Besides, he said, the authorities cited by Dr Ayine were not strong proofs.

Again, he said, a motion must be moved and seconded before a member could stand on a point of order.

Therefore, he said, Dr Ayine's request was immature and incompetent and asked Mr Osei-Owusu to continue with the presentation of the report.

Consensus

The report of the ACP had indicated that the committee had recommended, by an overwhelming majority decision, to the House to approve Mr Amidu’s appointment, but it was later changed to indicate that the recommendation was by consensus.

Again, the Chairman of the ACP, Mr Osei-Owusu, asked the House to delete the aspect of the report which captured the MP for Tamale North and member of the ACP, Mr Suhuyini Alhassan Sayibu, as being the only one who had voted against the nominee's approval by the House.

Comments

Mr Osei-Owusu said the committee observed that given Mr Amidu's high standard of competence, forthrightness in answering questions, independent mindedness, selflessness, solid principles and an in-depth appreciation of the task ahead, backed by his onerous experience, knowledge of the law and his promise to be above political colour, "the nominee qualifies to serve as the Special Prosecutor".

He said the committee was persuaded that Mr Amidu had the requisite integrity, competence, courage, determination, sense of purpose, independence of character and a mind suitable for the position.

The Minority Leader and Ranking Member on the ACP, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, noted that it was not the first time an attempt was being made to fight corruption, since all the military interventions had cited corruption as the basis for the interventions.

He said it was instructive to hear from Mr Amidu that crime had no political colour and that the task of fighting corruption was weightier than one person.

Minority Chief Whip

The Minority Chief Whip, Alhaji Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka, said Mr Amidu had appeared to him as someone who could be temperamental.

He said Mr Amidu had indicated that some of the positions he had taken on cases were based on perception and intelligence information .

He expressed the hope that Mr Amidu would not base his work on perception and intelligence information to lead him to witch-hunt.

The Second Deputy Speaker, Mr Alban Bagbin, said Mr Amidu's passion against corruption and his independent mindedness had made him (Mr Bagbin) to believe that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo had picked a serious person to fight corruption.