Politics of Wednesday, 25 October 2023

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

'Mother Serpent' of corruption tag: Martin Amidu was right about Akufo-Addo – Arthur Kennedy

Dr Arthur Kennedy and President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo play videoDr Arthur Kennedy and President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo

Leading member of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Kobina Arthur Kennedy has stated that former Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu was justified when he described President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as the “the mother serpent of corruption.”

According to US-based medical practitioner, the president from all indications has no commitment towards the fight against corruption.

“The problem is not forming new institutions; it is in our hearts. The President’s body language, his temperament and attitude is not geared towards fighting corruption and Martin Amidu was right that he is the mother serpent of corruption…” he told Joynews in an interview.

Asked if his assessment of the president was fair, Dr Kennedy, who is also a one-time flagbearer contender of the NPP argued that the very acts of corruption happening under the nose of the president is a direct confirmation.

"It is a very fair assessment, look at who he appointed as head if Public Procurement Authority, the person he appointed as head of Public Procurement Authority to begin with had ethical challenges under the Kufuor administration, so, it is not like people didn’t know who he was.

"But he got the job anyway. Then the president along the line of course is talking about it, he says that this time around we even have a Minister for Public Procurement.

“Not only that, we have a board of directors for the Public Procurement Authority. In spite of that, the head of Public Procurement Authority forms a private company on the side, that bids for contracts and gets them and sells them on the side, and he did that for years under the very noses of his board of directors and the minister who was supposed to take care of procurement.

"And all what it took was Manasseh Azure, one journalist, to expose them. So where was the security agencies? Where was the police? Where was the Attorney General's Department? Where was anybody?” he questioned.



Amidu labels Akufo-Addo

In a 27-page rebuttal to allegations which were levelled against him by the presidency following his resignation as Special Prosecutor in 2020, Martin Amidu accused President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of being a corruption kingpin.

According to Martin Amidu, while he trusted the president as a man of integrity and anti-corrupt, he revealed himself as a true leader of corruption when he sought to obstruct him from discharging his duties.

“I resigned my position as the Special Prosecutor because of the traumatic experience I suffered from the reaction of the President who breached his Presidential oath by unlawfully obstructing me from taking any further steps on the Agyapa Royalties Transactions from 20th October 2020 to 1 November 2020."

“When I met the President on 23rd October 2020, I received the shock of my life when he demanded that I took no further action on the Agyapa royalties transaction anti-corruption assessment report for another week.

"That was when it was divinely revealed to me that the President whom I trusted so much for integrity only looked like the innocent flower of anti-corruption but he was really the mother corruption serpent under the innocent-looking flower," Martin Amidu wrote of the president.

GA/SARA

Ghana’s leading digital news platform, GhanaWeb, in conjunction with the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, is embarking on an aggressive campaign which is geared towards ensuring that parliament passes comprehensive legislation to guide organ harvesting, organ donation, and organ transplantation in the country.

You can also watch the latest episode of Everyday People on GhanaWeb TV below: