Inusah Fuseini, the Ranking Member on the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee in Parliament has claimed the former Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu drew salary directly from the presidency.
Verdict: True
Explanation:
Member of Parliament for Tamale Central, Inusah Fuseini in a live radio interaction on Joy FM November 16, shortly after Martin Amidu tendered in his resignation letter, gave some explanations regarding the latter’s salary.
According to him, for over a year Martin Amidu was being paid directly from the presidency because he could not access money from the Ministry of Finance.
However, in a rather unexpected turn of events, the Tamale Central MP has denied making such comments.
Verification:
In an attempt to find closure to this, GhanaWeb Factcheck Desk resorted to the first interview the MP granted with Joy News during which he made the claims about the former Special Prosecutor’s emoluments.
While speaking on issues around some predictions he made about Amidu’s resignation some months back, and President Akufo-Addo’s commitment to fighting corruption he said: “You have introduced me as the ranking member of the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee of parliament.”
“We worked day and night to put the legal framework that insulated Martin Amidu’s office against political manipulation and intrusion. We gave him operational independence and removed him from interference from the Attorney General’s office…”
“…Because we thought the pronouncement of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo that he was fighting corruption was sincere and genuine…but things have turned out clearly not to be so.”
“In fact, the first case which gave signs of the near deception of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in his commitment to fight corruption was when Martin Amidu’s office was created and in a whole year, one whole year Martin Amidu could not access money from the Ministry of Finance to be used to put his office into place. One whole year, in fact one whole year Martin Amidu and his deputies were drawing salaries from the office of the president. They could not draw salaries from their own budgetary allocation.”
When the host, Evans Mensah tried to draw his attention to Mr Amidu position on his salaries as stated in his resignation letter, Inusah Fuseini further maintained his claim.
He insisted; “Well, he’s drawn salary, he’s drawn a salary from the office of the president, the year that it was established. I’m speaking on the basis of the provisional report that came to my committee.”
Inusah Fuseini's first interview on Joy FM (from 53:00)
However, in a separate interview on Eyewitness News November 17, Inusah Fuseini said his comments on Martin Amidu’s emoluments have been taken out of context.
While attempting to clarify his statement he said “I have no capacity to say that the Special Prosecutor has been paid or not and I could not have said that since I was not the one responsible for the payment of his salaries. For the period that the Special Prosecutor was in office, I was neither working at the Presidency or his office. Even in 2019, when he was given US180 million, and he appeared before the Committee, he had not drawn 10 per cent of that money. So that money was not available to him. The problem is that the Special Prosecutor and his Deputy not being paid was a cause of alarm.”
Read the full story on his denial
Conclusion:
From this, GhanaWeb Factcheck Desk can establish that Inusah Fuseini did indeed say that Martin Amidu was being paid directly from the presidency for over a year.
It can also be established that his latter claims suggesting that he was in no position to say that the Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu has been paid or not is false and contradicts his previous statement.
GhanaWeb Factcheck Desk, therefore, finds the claim to be true.
Member of Parliament for Tamale Central, Inusah Fuseini