We passed Martin Amidu before vetting him – Minority

The Minority in Parliament has explained that, contrary to suggestions that officials of the former administration are scared of the Special Prosecutor nominee, Martin Amidu, they are rather supportive of his work, for which reason they reached a decision to pass him before Tuesday’s vetting.

Speaking on Citi FM Wednesday morning, MP for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga, said, even before the vetting by Parliament’s Appointment Committee, they had collectively agreed to pass Martin Amidu.

This is in spite of the fact that the Appointments Committee is yet to release its report on the nominee

“We overwhelmingly as a minority had taken the decision that we will pass him any day, because people out there perceived that we were afraid of him and we wanted to show that we are afraid of nobody,” he said.

According to him, the NDC is very much interested in dealing with corrupt persons within the party and cannot be scared if the new government has to do same.

“I mean the NDC is bigger than any single person who might have committed an offence in the NDC regime, we saw it in NDC, some ministers were arrested, they were trailed, went to jail, it did nothing to NDC, the rank and file re-mobilized, chose new leadership, fought and recaptured power,”he said.

He noted that, the Minority will subject Mr. Amidu to scrutiny from every angle to make sure he delivers on all his responsibilities as a Special Prosecutor.

Martin Amidu on Tuesday, February 13, faced Parliament’s Appointments Committee in what could probably be the longest ever parliamentary vetting sessionfor a single individual in the 4th Republic.

The Special Prosecutor nominee responded to over 180 questions from all members of the committee in the over 7-hour long session.

The National Democratic Congres (NDC) Minority asked the most questions; 75% of all questions asked, with the caucus’ leader, Haruna Iddrisu, being the individual who asked the most number of questions.

Most of the questions focused on past statements and articles Martin Amidu had written.  There is, however, a pending suit at the Supreme Court by NDC member and former Deputy Attorney General Dominic Ayine, challenging Amidu’s nomination.

He argues that Mr. Amidu, 66, has passed the age that requires him to serve in that office.

Credit: Citifmonline.com