A talk about the bad effects of corruption on our people, country and continent will be a mere waste of breath. Everyone knows how this menace has eaten us up, barely putting our development, both national and individual on a halt. It is therefore heartbreaking to know that people supposed to put up a fierce fight against it rather shamelessly defend same.
I have little time to waste on the Woyomegate saga. But I can't ignore the dismissal of Hon Martin Amidu under such bizarre circumstances. It still baffles me that president Mills came on Radio Gold to defend his friends associated to this gargantuan crime of looting the state of close to a trillion cedis. It touched my spine that words like "I am not here to disgrace the beneficiaries of the judgement debt" could emanate from the very mouth of our head of state. What is even more surprising is that, three days after the Ex Attorney General(Hon Martin Amidu) had initiated the process of trailing the "gargantuan Criminals" and to use his position as the state attorney to prosecute them for the crimes against the country, President Mills saw it fit to dismiss him.
I can't stop thinking of the big blow this has done to our fight against corruption. I am not Mr Amidu's fan but anybody who takes the step Mr Amidu took in circling the Robbers of our land will sure be a hero to me. Instead of gaining support and strengthening, he has rather been thrown together with his ideals of integrity and patriotism into the cold.
Apart from the president not giving any tangible reason for chasing the sincerely nationalistic minded man from office, his(the president's) remaining integrity when it comes to fighting corruption has been washed away by the flimsy and shallow excuse that Mr Amidu's behavior is not up to the standard of a minister of state. His defense of Mutaka and the dismissal of those who blew the whistle on the former Youth and Sports Minister coupled with the surprising transfer of the TOR whistle blowers had successfully portrayed the president as one who was in accord with those found culpable for corrupt practices. This latest development relating to his once running mate shows he is not only in accord with such corrupt officials but actually teams up with them to defend the evil they do against this state.
For the first time I have been courageous to say without doubt that all the atrocities the lieutenants of President Mills are committing are with his blessings. He has in dismissing Mr Amidu showed that he will defend those who will do anything at all to the state whilst pretending to be obedient to him. If you are the type of Sekou Nkrumah who will see the wrong and point it out or like Martin Amidu who will be prepared to bring the criminals in his government to book, you cannot work with him. Be a Rawlings and point to his mistakes and you will be called a "dog".
A clear show of the presidents disapproval of the bold initiative of Hon Martin Amidu is his appointment of EOCO to handle a case which is obviously outside of their jurisdiction whilst the then Attorney general who has the constitution authority to prosecute such cases was ignored. Because long before now, as Mr Amidu said in his press statement, his work was a threat to President Mills' corrupt cronies and his favorite "rented publishers".
If president Mills had any trust in him what could have prompted referring this case to EOCO when it is clearly within the jurisdiction of the attorney generals office? The worst show by any Ghanaian head of state in his stance against corruption is that of President John Evans Atta Mills in the Woyomegate saga and the dismissal of Hon Martin Amidu. And the entire administration and it's "mouths pieces" are supporting this bad stand nationwide and defending corruption together with their leader without any shame.
Reagan Adomah Koduah.
London, UK. e-mail: [email protected]