Former Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, has accused his former office, the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), of forging a joint statement it issued together with the Judiciary Service of Ghana on the fight against corruption.
In a statement copied to GhanaWeb, Amidu alleged that the judiciary possibly had no hand in the joint statement, which was issued to only make the OSP look good in the eyes of Ghanaians because of the bad publicity it has suffered over the past few months.
He added that the statement issued by the OSP was also to divert the attention of Ghanaians from an article he (Amidu) published about the office blackmailing the government.
“The Special Prosecutor published and circulated widely an alleged joint statement made by the Judicial Service and the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) dated 27 December 2023. The alleged joint statement on a stationery bearing the National Coat of Arms and the Logo of the OSP is unusual in the issuance of joint statements by public institutions unless it is the work of a momentary and ingenious IT creation to achieve a particular media and psychological operational effect. An examination of the stationery used clearly indicates that it was issued by the OSP in the name of the Judicial Service.
“The alleged joint statement was published by myjoyonline.com after it had published my article on its website… Myjoyonline.com removed my article entirely from its website when it published the alleged joint statement. The result was that my article cannot be accessed on myjoyonline.com. I accordingly emailed a request to myjoyonline.com for an explanation for which I am still waiting. The psychological operational effect on the unsuspecting public after my deleted article by myjoyonline.com and the publication of the OSP’s alleged joint statement was, at least, achieved by myjoyonline.com for the OSP,” he wrote.
Amidu, a former Minister of Justice and Attorney General, made these remarks while reacting to criticism of the judiciary after the joint statement was issued.
He urged Ghanaians to refrain from chastising the judiciary and wait for it to react to the joint statement.
“I have visited the website of the Judicial Service and the alleged Joint Statement is not on that website. The Judicial Service is on its Michaelmas vacation which makes the 27 December 2023 publication by the OSP in the name of the Judicial Service suspicious to patriotic citizens.
“It is premature to make any assumptions against the Judicial Service in the publication of the Joint Statement by the OSP allegedly on behalf of the Judicial Service without knowing the context under which the statement was issued by the beleaguered OSP which has perennially scandalized the administration of justice under the 1992 Constitution,” he said.
Background:
The OSP and the judiciary services reiterated their commitment to fight against and repress corruption and corruption-related activities in all forms.
In a joint statement, the two bodies recalled their pledge to do this through collaborative enforcement of the law and continuous engagement, while upholding the rule of law and the provision of fair hearing to all stakeholders in the criminal justice system.
However, some experts in the legal sector, including private legal practitioner, Justice Abdulai, have said the decision by the judiciary to partner with the OSP in the fight against corruption raises concerns.
He said that it worrying that the judiciary which is supposed to check the OSP is now partnering with it.
“It is a worry that the person who is supposed to be a gatekeeper by ensuring that the rights and privileges accorded to individuals whether constitutionally or otherwise, are respected appears to be in bed with the person who is supposed to be complaining and prosecuting, clearly, that can’t be a good thing for us to be excited about, This is a worry to all of us to ask questions and to appreciate why the judiciary will take such a position,” he is quoted to have said by 3news.com.
Read Amidu’s full statement below:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zlRNKzlXR74n2V03lYTqoapmsVfhBjDo/preview
ghanaweb.com