General News of Tuesday, 23 July 2019

Source: ghanaguardian.com

NPP Communications Director viciously attacks Amidu; says 'shut up and work'

Martin Amidu, Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu, Special Prosecutor

Communications director of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Yaw Buaben Asamoah has viciously slammed the Special Prosecutor, Mr Martin Amidu.

The Adentan MP has asked Mr. Amidu to stop complaining and do the job he was assigned to do.

His comments comes after Mr Amidu lashed out at the Criminal Investigation Department of the Ghana Police Service for exonerating Charles Bissue of any wrong doing in the Galamsey Fraud documentary of investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas.

Mr Bissue was alleged to have taken a GHS35,000 bribe to help a make-believe mining firm ORR Resource Enterprise, circumvent all the necessary protocols pertaining to small-scale mining following the lifting of the ban imposed on such mining by the government.

However, the CID report said the documentary is not a true reflection of what transpired between Mr Bissue and the representatives of the said ORR Resource Enterprise.

Following his exoneration by the CID, Mr Amidu said granted an interview to Accra-based Citi FM in which he said the presidential staffer has not been cleared of the corruption allegations levelled against him.

According to him, the CID Director-General, COP Maame Tiwaa Addo Danquah wrote to him claiming she had been instructed by the Minister of Science, Environment, Technology, and Innovation, Prof Kwabena Frimpong Boateng; and the Minister for the Interior, Mr Ambrose Dery to undertake the parallel investigation.

Responding to Mr Amidu, Mr Buaben Asamoah said: “I think he [Mr Amidu] can take advantage of their investigations and they can carry it even further to satisfy himself on whether or not they did a good job… I don’t think the CID’s work ousts Mr Amidu’s jurisdiction in anyway at all.

“… You have power to prosecute politically-exposed persons, the matter is on your table, nobody has stopped you from investigating the matter. Why is he not investigating it and carrying it on?

“Why is he complaining all the time, let him do his work, it’s as simple as that. Has the president told Mr Martin Amidu to stop working? No. Has the minister who wrote the letter to the CID told Martin Amidu to stop working? No. Has the CID in its report told Martin Amidu to stop working? No. Mr Amidu, nobody can direct him [about] what to do and that office was set up by this government. It’s a very bold decision. I don’t think it’s useful to be at opposite ends of the table with the CID. I think it will be better for him to pick up that report, look at flaws, if any he finds per his purview he finds per the Special Prosecutor’s Act and move on to deal with those issues”, he said, adding: “Nobody has asked him not to work on Mr Bissue’s report, nobody has stopped him from moving to investigate the matter and nobody can stop him”.