Politics of Saturday, 16 February 2019

Source: mynewsgh.com

NDC officially ‘expels’ Martin Amidu from party

Martin Alamisi Burnes Kaiser Amidu Martin Alamisi Burnes Kaiser Amidu

Ghana’s Special Prosecutor, Martin Alamisi Burnes Kaiser Amidu has been barred from activities of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) if the statement made by the party’s General Secretary, Mr. Johnson Asiedu Nketia is anything to go by.

According to him last Wednesday in an interview MyNewsGh.com monitored, Mr. Amidu can no longer make decisions in the party which means he is not a member of good standing to vote in any of their internal elections.

Per the NDC election guidelines, former appointees are allowed to vote in any internal elections that may be held but he stated emphatically that Mr. Amidu who was once an Attorney General and Minister of Justice does not qualify in any way to vote.

“Martin Amidu said from the day he was appointed by the government that he had resigned so he can’t take part. The fact that he has been a cadre and a former Minister does not give him that chance,” he explained.

In February last year, Martin Amidu disclosed that his appointment as Special Prosecutor does not compel him to resign from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) but was quick to add that his appointment automatically makes him impartial.

“ If you read Section 3 of the Criminal Offences Act, the definition of a public officer includes a potential public officer, so when the President nominated me and announced it to the whole world, I became a potential public officer, recognized under the Criminal code as a public officer, so as far as I am concerned, since that day , I am neutral, and that is why you have not heard my voice over the air saying anything because I am coming to an office which has to be neutral and impartial.

“One does not need to resign. The Supreme Court has held that while you are a public officer you cannot take part in party politics. I think it involves Dr. Adjei and co. I did that case in the Supreme Court, so I do not need to make a formal resignation of anything.”