OPEN LETTER TO HON. MARTIN AMIDU - RE: WOYOME PAYMENTS WERE HIDDEN FROM ME - AMIDU REPLIES

Dear Citizen

Vigilante I bring to you warm greetings from the sidelines of the 5th Session of African Union Ministers of Sports Conference currently underway in Abidjan, Cote D'Ivoire. Bonjour Excellence!

Sir, this is my second open letter you. The first was in response to your last epistle before the 2012 General Elections. As you know, I always try as much as possible to be civil towards you. What I do, is to raise the issues, analyze the issues and come to a reasonable conclusion for the public to decipher the truth from the flim-flam you sometimes throw at them I read a news item from www.radioxyzonline.com about your response to an issue that had come up in court over the Woyome trial. The said publication which was posted on 22nd. July, 2013 contains a statement you sent out to the media and this letter will address some of the stupefying but flimsy excuses you raised.

Before I proceed, I wish to remind you that as human, you are not perfect. Though your positives as a public officer are highly strong, you have your flaws as well.

My worry is why you see everybody (your predecessors, superiors, staff of every Ministry you worked with) as criminally minded and incompetent but see yourself as the most perfect Public Officer Ghana has ever had. Do you not think that you are the problem? I strongly recommend for you to conduct a self-check Sir. Now to the issues:

Sir, you stated that“...how was I to stop payments of monies which were authorized before I was appointed to the office and nobody had even briefed me about them? The first time this matter came to my attention was on 8th November 2011 when I read the Solicitor- General's memo asking me to authorize the withdrawal of the Woyome case from the High Court for settlement which I refused to do"

My view:

Sir, does this rhetoric not ring a self-bell how your position as the AG was meaningless at the Ministry? What were you doing then as AG? You were appointed as AG in January 2011 and did not have an idea what was going through your office? And did not also know about the Auditor General's report of 2010 which was presented to Parliament in mid 2011? This is riduclous! Sir, I have always prayed to get the opportunity to serve the Ghanaian people and wish to travel to your level in terms of Public Administration but I know that as a Minister you are supposed to take responsibility for each and every single case that takes place at the AG’s. How can ALL the thousands of cases throughout the Country from Axim to Paga be contained in HAND OVER notes? I also know that Ministers Hand Over notes are prepared by bureaucrats – no minister prepares them personally. There is apparently no justification for your flimpsy excuse that payments to Woyome were hidden from you. And I suspect that by now, the State Attorneys are very upset with your incessant attempts to portray them as negligent and incompetent.

Did you sit down for briefings with your predecessor when she was reshuffled? And did you sit down to brief your successor, Hon. Benjamin Kumbour when you were relieved of your post?

With my little experience Sir, I am sure all payments about judgement debts would have been copied to the AG by the Minister of Finance; otherwise, the then Minister of Finance must be called to question. If those copies were made, the letters would have passed across your desk so you are presumed to know each time payments were made; unless of course you do not read correspondence of the Minister of Justice? Now, Sir, let all Ghanaians follow you in this your ludicrous excuse and believe that all your Superiors, Predecessors, Successors, Staff of AG, were wrong and possibly were criminally minded. Let us all accept! Are you saying that if something was patently WRONG and your predecessor had filed a case in court to reverse the process saying there had been a mistake in the PAYMENTS and that smacked of POOR judgement, you did not find any wisdom in seizing that opportunity to handle the case and right the wrong timeously despite the fact that the authorisations were made before you assumed office?.

To make a long story short, let me present a case which has recently become part of the records of this Country for your study and probably to update your experiences so that if you get any opportunity again to serve your Country as an appointee who is accountable to his Superior and the people of Ghana, you may exercise good judgment.

1.Hon. Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah was appointed as the Minister of Youth and Sports by H. E. John Dramani Mahama in March 2013.

2. He assumed office and heard about a certain rot at an agency under his ministry - GYEEDA.

3. He quickly put together a committee to investigate the rot and recommend measures for the Agency to be reformed in order to prevent such rots in the future.

4. After some weeks, the committee finished its job and presented their report.

5. He did not sit on the report but presented it to his Superior for study and action.

I dare say this is the hallmark of a Professional Public Administrator. Sir, you have always accussed the AG's department of rot, neglegence and incompence. What did you do to reform the department in your 13months stay at the ministry?

Hon. Amidu, you also stated in your statement that“...the National Security Coordinator, Captain Kojo Tsikata and senior staff of the Attorney General's Department know that without my efforts what had been filed in the High Court on grounds of mistake before I sought the amendments had no legs to stand upon.” My view: Sir, you seems to be out of date: the National Security Co-ordinator is called Lt. Col. Larry Gbevlo Lartey. He took office in 2009 and is still doing mavelously well at post. But it beats my imagination for you to state this in your statement since the case was ongoing in court and in fact it is the same case filed by your predecessor through the incompetent Attorneys that has led to the ongoing attempts to retrieve the funds. Sir, I am suggesting to you that it was your duty as the Government legal advisor to present the best possible defence or prosecution of cases. How on earth can you make such a self-laudatory statement? Sir, I believe that you had a role to play in this Woyome matter - a role you did not play to best of your ability; accept responsibility and let us move on. Many Ghanaians admire your courage to speak the truth and stand by it no matter the consequence.

So do not try to portray yourself as infallible and righteous because the people know you are not. Lest you lose your credibility in the process. Merci beaucoup

Your Party Youth Activist

Brogya Genfi DEAU PLATEAU, ABIDJAN 00225 56706684 egenfi@gmail.com www.brogyagenfi.wordpress.com