Opinions of Thursday, 25 March 2021

Columnist: Rockson Adofo

See no evil adoration of Martin Amidu and Daniel Domelevo by some Ghanaian professors

In Ghana, my motherland, the highly educated ones with doctorate degree are highly revered. Indisputably empirical observations do conclude that Ghanaian citizens hold on to the belief that a knowledge of English is the criterion for a man’s great learning.

No wonder that those with professorship see themselves as authority on every subject or issue of national interest that takes place in the country hence always vociferously trying their hardest to be heard.

Have these professors forgotten that they educate students and that their students and the majority of the public look up to them as role models? Have they forgotten that some people see them as a repository of wisdom by the fact of their acquisition of doctorate degrees and their professorship?

I have been told and confirmed it myself that there are two sides to a story as there are to a coin. Therefore, it is just prudent for any wise person, irrespective of their personality, to decide on a complaint made to them by listening to both the complainant and the defendant’s side of the story.

However, with the never ending public interest in the shocking resignation of the Special Prosecutor, Honourable Martin Amidu, and the ordered “proceed on leave to exhaust your accumulated paid holidays and final proceed on retirement” to Auditor-General Daniel Yao Domelevo, by His Excellency the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, some “all-knowing” Ghanaian professors of all shapes and forms have come out condemning the President.

They are frivolously and recklessly accusing the President of finding it uncomfortable working with anti-corruption persons hence his declared fight against official corruption being simply a sham, if not a scam or political gimmick.

They claim the President has sacked the two renowned anti-corruption czars in the country, thus, Martin Amidu and Daniel Domelevo. These Ghanaian professors, lately to include Professors Addai and Boadi Gyamfi, have chosen to see no evil about Martin Amidu and Daniel Domelevo but to hear evil and speak evil about the President. Funny though!

In their attempts to emulate the three wise monkeys of whom one said, “See no evil”, the other said, “Hear no evil” and the last said, “Speak no evil”, the notorious Ghanaian professors, probably with entrenched political partisanship, malicious agenda or selfish interests, have failed very woefully.

With all their knowledge and intelligence, they failed to understand, apply and interpret the laws as they are in relevancy to the cases pertaining to their acclaimed anti-corruption czars. I will not spend much time elaborating on the circumstances surrounding each of the supposedly anti-corruption persons mentioned above since I had already written my candid views about them.

Mr Martin Amidu was neither sacked nor forced to resign by the President. He resigned on his own volition as may have been brought about by his evil intents and agenda backfiring on him.

He resigned partly following his accusations of the President obstructing his findings of corruption into the Agyapa Investment deal. The Agyapa Investment had not even taken off the ground so where could the corruption that had probably cost financial loss to the state take place? Martin Amidu only conducted investigations into the deal in respect of risk assessment and anti-corruption.

I have had the occasion to read several risk assessment reports. What is a risk assessment to someone unfamiliar with it? Risk assessment is “a systematic process of evaluating the potential risks that may be involved in a projected activity or undertaking” or Risk assessment is a term used to describe the overall process or method where you: Identify hazards and risk factors that have the potential to cause harm (hazard identification).

Determine appropriate ways to eliminate the hazard, or control the risk when the hazard cannot be eliminated (risk control)”.

This is exactly what Martin Amidu did but he came out to pretend and to let the nation believe that corruption had taken place within the Agyapa deal.

If he found potential risks of corruption should the Agyapa deal go on in its current state, why should he let it appear as though corruption had already taken place, subsequent upon which allegation he resigned? Does he indeed understand the preparation of a risk assessment report and when and why it is done?

Risk assessment as I am conversant with, does precede the commencement of a project. I know and understand this same as I know the back of my hand.

Was Martin Amidu not the person who was intentionally for all dubious reasons refusing all the office accommodations procured him by the President or the NPP government? Was he not the same person who refused to use the money allocated to his office for the smooth running of his office as per the President’s side of the story to the shocking and bad-timing resignation of Martin Amidu?

Had the Finance Ministry not allocated to his office by placing money into his office’s account to employ and pay the salaries of himself and his workers contrary to the false information Martin Amidu put out in the public domain that he had not been paid his salary for the past two years?

Again, does a section of the Ghana Labour Law, thus, Public Service Act or the Constitution not talk about paid annual holiday leave and how a public service worker cannot forego their holiday under any circumstances?

Why was Daniel Domelevo continually accumulating his paid annual holiday leave year on year? When was he going to take them and what law permitted him to continue to accumulate his paid holidays? Was he a law unto himself by virtue of his position as a constitutional independent entity?

Was he not the one who himself on various occasions altered his date of birth on different employment and other documents as and when he saw fit with a motive only best known to himself? Does altering or falsifying your date of birth to obtain what you will normally not obtain without such falsification not an offence prosecutable by law?

Was he not the one who was refusing to provide forensic audit report on some suspected officials and institutions to be referred for investigation and prosecution? Was it not because of his failure to help as honestly as it was urgently needed that compelled the Senior Minister Honourable Yaw Sarfo Marfo, to invite in the external British Audit Company Kroll & Associates?

Domelevo came out to surcharge Honourable Yaw Sarfo Marfo as though, he had corrupted himself and caused financial loss to the state by his engagement of the services of the British external audit firm Kroll & Associates.

By the characters of Martin Amidu and Daniel Domelevo, of course two strong NDC members, if not activists, how dare these so-called learned professors continue to condemn the President, treating him as corrupt and not serious about fighting official corruption in Ghana?

Were all cases of official corruption brought to the attention of the President not passed on to the relevant crime fighting organisations like CHRAJ, EOCO, Special Prosecutor’s Office, Auditor-General and, or the Supreme Court to be investigated and prosecuted? Did the President ever brush any such complaints brought to him under the carpet to shield such corrupt officials? Not as far as I know unless his detractors tell me.

The professors are not serious, I must be frank with them. Many intelligent people are inside and outside Ghana watching, listening and reading them so they must be more honest and more responsible. They are not fooling anyone but themselves, I must confess. They can choose to project their selfish interests and that of their political partisanship but they cannot continue to fool Ghanaians, let alone, Rockson Adofo, the fearless and proud son of Kumawu/Asiampa soil.

The professors had better contact Mr Kwame Baffoe, alias Abronye, for further and better particulars on Martin Amidu and Daniel Domelevo regarding their activities and resignation or retirement. As I am jokingly addressed as the “Article Man” by some friends, so do I see Abronye as the “Documents Man”. He has credible, acceptable and court-permissible documents on many past and present government officials and issues of public interest as regards corruption perpetration and fighting.