If I were Amidu, I would have exercised some restraint – Koku Anyidoho

Koku Anyidoho, the suspended former General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress says he finds no problem with Martin Amidu’s decision to resign from his position as Special Prosecutor.

According to him, Amidu reserved the right to resign and ought to be understood.

Anyidoho however suggested that Amidu resigned too early by stating that he should have exercised some form of restraint.

The former presidential spokesperson averred that if he was in Amidu's shoes he would have stayed on until President Akufo-Addo convinced him that he was not committed to the fight against corruption.

“That is his choice. I enjoyed some of his epistles because he wrote quite a number of them. He worked for the President and I did same, so we were all colleagues. I wouldn’t fault him for his decision to resign. That was something we were all clamoring for.

Anyidoho said on Starr FM that President Akufo-Addo, by appointing Martin Amidu showed courage and commitment to the corruption fight.

“On the surface of that you can say that he is not fighting but when he goes out of the line to appoint a non-party member to hold such key office in his quest and desire to fight corruption, I think that was a very bold move. That showed strong commitment.

He held that Amidu should have shown some patience and stayed on as Special Prosecutor.

“In these struggles, there must be a lot of patience. The office was new. We are experimenting something that has never come our way. A lot of patience would have gone into it for us to achieve something. It is his decision to have left but if it was me Koku Anyidoho I would have exercised some restraint. Virtue favors the brave and life is a struggle so if I were in that place I would have stayed a bit longer for the president to finally convince me that he didn’t want me,” he added.

Martin Amidu resigned on Monday, November 16, 2020 citing undue presidential interference. The resignation was in respect to a damning report his office had released on the Agyapa Royalties deal. Which deal was subsequently suspended by parliament after outcry from opposition and civil society groups.

“This is to inform the public that I resigned from my position as the Special Prosecutor of the Office of the Special Prosecutor with immediate effect upon the submission of my letter of resignation with reference number OSP/2/AM/14 dated 16th November 2020 which was received at the Office of the President at 15:15 HRS this afternoon,” his statement read in part.