General News of Thursday, 19 November 2020

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Mahama Ayariga is my son, he won’t lie against me – Amidu

Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga and former Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga and former Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu

Former Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu has disclosed that he shares a father and son relationship with Mahama Ayariga, a former appointee under the erstwhile John Mahama administration who he led investigations against.

Martin Amidu firmly argued that his relations with Mr Ayariga means he cannot lie against him (Amidu), under no given circumstances.

The former Special Prosecutor made this known while responding to allegations from Member of Parliament for Assin Central, Kennedy Agyapong that he has a medical condition which he receives treatment for in Germany.

Kennedy Agyapong in his utterances on live TV mentioned the former Youth and Sports Minister, Mahama Ayariga as one of the few persons who have full knowledge about Mr Amidu’s alleged medical condition.

But the former Special Prosecutor debunked the allegations and Mahama Ayariga’s involvement.

Mr Amidu who dragged Mahama Ayariga to court earlier this year told Umaru Sanda in an audio interview that “Mahama Ayariga is my son, who incidentally I had to lead an investigation against because of public duty. Mahama Ayariga will tell the public that he holds no medical record on me having visited Germany.”

He further emphasized that Kennedy Agyapong’s reference to Mahama Ayariga in his accusations cannot be taken as factual. He said Mr Ayariga risks being excluded from his people in the North if he lied against him in public.

“I do not think that the attribution to Mahama Ayariga is true because Mahama Ayariga will never and I repeat never make such false allegations against me as his father. He would have been ostracized by the chiefs and people of Bawku South traditional area for such a blatant lie,” he said.

Per explanations given by Kennedy Agyapong, during Amidu’s vetting, it took the intervention of a particular politician to avert questions about his medical records.

Martin Amidu thinks he’s a ‘tin god’. He should bring his medical records from Germany, I dare him. Bring your medical records from Germany to determine if you’re normal…Ayariga was going to take him on to produce his medical records and explain why he went to Germany [but] Mahama told him to stop. ‘Don’t raise this question at the Appointment Committee’. Mahama advised them not to raise that issue [about] the medical records and it was never brought up because they knew that one [day] this will happen,” Kennedy Agyapong said on Net 2 TV.

Martin Amidu began a probe against Mahama Ayariga in March 2019 for reported acts of corruption while he served as minister.

But the case only gathered momentum early 2020 when the former Special Prosecutor dragged Mahama Ayariga to court.

Mahama Ayariga who was charged with tax evasion, abuse of office amongst others admitted in a media interaction that Martin Amidu’s “pressure on me goes beyond a legal tussle.”