By William
Yaw Owusu
Saturday
April 21, 2018
The prosecution of former ministers in the erstwhile
National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration and Members of Parliament
(MPs) who have been caught in an alleged double-salary scandal is imminent.
It follows what looks like the special prosecutor’s endorsement
of the move by the police to prosecute the former appointees, who served under
then President John Mahama - majority of who are MPs in the current parliament.
Clearest
Indication
Martin A.B.K. Amidu, the special prosecutor, told Citi
FM last Thursday that his former colleagues had fallen foul of the law
and should not go unpunished.
“Indeed, that (double salary), is an offence of
abuse of office for private gain,” he said without mincing words, before
revealing that he also received double payments when he served as minister
during the NDC regime but returned the excess money to the government.
Specific
Charge
The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the
Ghana Police Service has said officially that the alleged double salaries saga
“is contrary to Section 124 (1) of the Criminal and other Offences Act 1960
(Act 29) as amended in 2012 (Act 849).
Section 124 relates to the offence of stealing.”
Some of the MPs’ allegedly involved have been
interrogated by the CID and granted police enquiry bail, but it is unclear if
the special prosecutor’s office will be handling the case, should the Attorney
General’s Department decide to arraign them for court.
Patriotic
Duty
“Money was ever paid into my account. When my bank
notified me I told them to return it because that is not what me and the Attorney
General agreed, I could have kept it. This is what they should have done.
“You don’t keep the money for six months, one year,
two years or three years, you’ve left office, one-and-a-half years, you’ve not
made any efforts to return it. Then when the CID begins seeing it now, you are
rationalizing it and yet when the ordinary man takes plantain one bunch, he
goes to jail for 15 years. So what is the political elite telling us?”
Mr Martin Amidu, former Attorney General and
Minister for Justice, did not agree with those who are insisting that the
double payment to government appointees, who were MPs is an old age problem in
the country.
He asserted, “If it’s been happening since 1992 and
no one has seen it, now it has been seen; those responsible should bear the
consequence.”
Conscience
To Prosecute
Mr Amidu said as special prosecutor, he will not
have the conscience to prosecute ordinary Ghanaians if the double salary matter
is not dealt with appropriately.
“Why should a special prosecutor be prosecuting
ordinary Ghanaians and your honourables will be involved in these things then
they will be talking to the president to wash it up? Then I have no need
sitting here. I won’t even have the conscience to continue,” Amidu, known as
citizen vigilante for his anti-corruption stance, fired.
He queried, “Will I have the conscience to prosecute
any other body for corruption if the CID finds something prosecutable and are
not allowed to prosecute because Members of Parliament are involved? That is
not fair.”
Element
of Bias
Mr Amidu’s assertions appeared to have incensed Dr
Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, former Deputy Attorney General under President Mahama
and MP for Bolgatanga East, who accused him (Amidu) of exhibiting bias towards
the NDC.
Dr. Ayine, who has filed a suit at the Supreme Court
to stop Mr Amidu from becoming the special prosecutor using the age argument,
said on Citi FM that the former Attorney
General is still hounding the NDC members.
“He has never investigated the Mahama administration
yet he keeps piling one allegation upon the other, that there was massive
corruption in the Mahama administration,” Ayine fumed.
He insisted that Mr Amidu is not exhibiting
neutrality, given the position he now occupies, saying, “I think it’s
unfortunate for a man who is supposed to be impartial and neutral in
investigating crimes.
“I am very disappointed that he will still be making
those types of statements at this stage of his career as a prosecutor.”
Clandestine
Move
Even though some elements in the opposition NDC have
been going about claiming that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government is
witch-hunting them politically, their minority leader in parliament is on
record to have met President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to seek a way out of
the embarrassing episode.
Majority leader and Minister for Parliamentary
Affairs, Osei Kyei-Mensah Bonsu, threw the bombshell last Tuesday when he said
his minority counterpart, Haruna Iddrisu, tried to persuade President
Akufo-Addo to intervene in the double salary case against appointees of the
erstwhile NDC government, claiming that it would damage the reputation of
parliament if it went on.
Haruna Iddrisu later admitted meeting the president
but refused to disclose what transpired at the meeting.
Cynical
Reaction
Even with the minority leader’s admission, some NDC
elements, including Victor Kodjoga Adawudu, a private legal practitioner, who
is representing some of the affected MPs in the case, created the impression
that the majority leader had been untruthful to the media about Iddrisu’s
meeting with the president.
The double salary scandal appears to have rattled
the opposition NDC which MPs - some past and present - have been visiting the
police to assist in investigations over their respective involvements in the
scandal.
Last Wednesday, Fifi Fiavi Kwetey, former Minister
of Transport and MP for Ketu South; Abdul Rashid Hassan Pelpuo, former minister
of state at the presidency and MP for Wa Central and Aquinas Tawiah Quansah,
former Central Regional Minister and former MP for Mfantseman West, were
interrogated by the police over the scandal.
Self
Enquiry Bail
Before then, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, MP for Ellembelle
and former Minister of Energy and Petroleum and Nii Laryea Afotey Agbo, MP for
Kpone Katamanso who was the former Greater Accra Regional Minister, were also
interrogated by the police and granted self enquiry bail.
Also, a certain Bashir Fuseini Alhassan - who is
believed to be ABA Fuseini, NDC MP for Sagnerigu and former Deputy Minister for
the Northern Region - was also there at the weekend and was made to write a
statement before being admitted to bail.
On Tuesday, three former appointees under President
Mahama, including minister of state in-charge of Social and Allied
Institutions, Comfort Doyoe Cudjoe Ghansah, NDC MP for Ada East; second deputy
minority chief whip, Eric Opoku, former MP for Asunafo South and Brong-Ahafo
Regional Minister and Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, MP for Tamale Central and former Minister
of Roads and Highways, were also grilled.
They were all reportedly
cautioned with a charge of stealing and are to reappear before the CID in May.
They appeared individually with their lawyers at the
CID headquarters in Accra and after writing their statements, they were said to
have been subjected to questioning before they were granted police enquiry bail.
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