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Martin Alamisi Amidu, Special Prosecutor nominee
“It is error alone which needs the support of Government. Truth can stand by itself’’. This famed quote by Thomas Jefferson remains one of S. P. Amidu’s very few favorite quotes. I know for sure that, revenge as an irony will not fall for the appetite of the special prosecutor who is in the person of Special Prosecutor Martin Alamisi Benz Kaiser Amidu; a citizen vigilante of our time. Serving as a public and private legal and conflict resolution consultant we will be expecting a resolution of the public purse devoid of whatever may be void in a way. If ‘they’ may be afraid, it will not be because of the title but rather the office or the man behind the loom. What possibly will it be? Sincerely speaking, I am not a seer to predict the future. I am not using this medium to tell you how it is going to end but in a breath I am only telling you how it is going to begin since Article 88 of the 1992 constitution clearly append the Office of the Special Prosecutor Bill, 2017 sent before parliament legal.
Alfred Agbesi Woyome
Among the numerous cases that majority of Ghanaians thinks that will be seriously perused be the special prosecutor will be the household name for gargantuan judgment debt saga since he has vowed to defend the 1992 constitution than to be intimidated by John Mahama, Woyome, and their surrogates unconstitutional petitions.. According to goggle, this is one of the popular names searched by its users in Ghana. Alfred Agbesi Woyome is a Ghanaian businessman and a former Honorary Vice Consul of Austria to Ghana and a financier of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Alfred Agbesi Woyome, the man at the center of the controversial GHc51 million judgment debts found him in another scandal; shockingly of a similar characteristic.
Pressure group, Occupy Ghana raised a red flag over a second lucrative GHc35 million deal Woyome benefited from the state through its subsidiary company, Anotor Holding. According to Occupy Ghana, there exists a framework agreement dated 21st December 2015, for Anator Holding to develop deep seaports (including) industrial parks and green townships in Ghana. This new discovery enraged Ghanaians who felt their intelligence had been insulted. The citizen vigilante, Martin Amidu has so promised to retrieve the money Woyome’s owes government.
Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah, Kojo Adu Asare and Larry Acheampong
The year 2014 under corrupt analysis again comes with the Brazil 2014 world cup $ 4,000,000 brouhaha. The government agreed to pay the $100,000 appearance fees to the players of the Black Stars and on the matter of agency sent a sum of $4,000,000 on a chattered flight to Brazil to be disbursed to the entire team. The fact that the team performance in the competition was not up to expectation wasn’t much of a problem as compared to the bad name the country got from the International Media across the globe. Players of the Black Stars were caught in the room jubilating and kissing the money.
As the same old stories were told to Ghanaians as the government set up another ‘useless’ committee to investigate the actions and in-actions of the Black Stars management committee but could not yield any better outcome.
The Justice Dzamefe Committee findings received support by sports pundits and lawyers for the government to issue a government white paper on the findings of the committee but the story is no different as we speak now. In the year 2015, Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah and host of three others per the Justice Dzamefe Committee were asked to refund whopping $30,000 world cup money but as to whether should be compared to Woyome’s case. In Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah response to this shame was that, any attempt to surcharge him for misappropriating government fund is wrong.
Alhaji Imoro Alhassan
In that same year, 2014, there was an attempt to uncover the massive corruption that shook the whole country in the National Service Scheme, Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) investigation came out with a findings that a whooping Gh?7,000, 000 which was manipulated to have been paid to 22,212 service personnel in more than 100 districts across the length and breadth of the country. The prosecution alleged that Alhaji Imoro, within the said period at the NSS headquarters in Accra, dishonestly appropriated GH¢ 28,749,395.80 belonging to the state.
The former NSS boss is said to have, on August 1 to September 26, 2014, given GH¢ 25,000 and GH¢ 15,000 to one Charles Kipo, Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) Investigator, to influence him. The accused persons have pleaded not guilty before the court presided over by Mrs. Justice Georgina Mensah Datsa. Prosecution said in July 2014 the BNI commenced a nationwide investigation into the operations of the NSS with regard to the payment of monthly allowances to service persons. The prosecutor said a report received by the Bureau indicated malfeasance in the postings and payment of allowances. According to prosecution, investigations established that from September 2013 – August 2014, the payroll of the NSS was bloated by 31,516 names for both the national service postings and the national voluntary service. Justice delayed as we al know is justice denied.
Dzifa Aku Attivor
“If you don’t vote for NDC, I will go to jail under NPP” these are the words web in fears from the former transport minister Dzifa Attivor. The investigation which was made into the Rebranding of 116 Metro Mass Transit (MMT) buses* which involved a whooping Gh?36,000,000 revealed that the Ministry of Transport which was responsible for the management of these buses contracted a company by name “Smarttys” owned by a member of the ruling NDC activist Selassie Ibrahim to rebrand 116 buses.
It was revealed that the rebranding of the buses cost the government Gh?36,000,000 which is more than the purchasing money used in purchasing the 116 buses. This shameful act could only happen in Ghana! The company was to overbill the government with an amount of Gh?1,900,000. Minister of Transport to escape the shame which can never be erased resigned and what blew me away was her immature tribal comments she made in response to the corrupt scandal. She later took the position of Peter Ahiapor as the new chairperson of the Eco Medical.
Dr. Shaibu Ahmed Gariba
Joy FM senior broadcast journalist Manasseh Azure made a very credible investigation to uncover the massive create, loot and share that was happening in the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA) which came to replace the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP). This initiative in the year 2013 was meant to close the gap solution to the growing youth unemployment which was on the rise. In view of that, the then Minister of Youth and Sports set up a Ministerial Impact Assessment Committee to probe the allegations which was uncovered by Manasseh, the committee was to evaluate and investigate the accounting and administrative procedures of the agency among others.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in March, 2016 revealed a huge Gh?429,000,000 corruption in the operations of GYEEDA. To shake off the shame from the crown of parliament as part of its reforms passed a hasty law to regulate the operations and rebranded it as Youth Employment Agency (YEA). Those who were involved in this corrupt scandal are still walking freely while innocent souls are being imprisoned daily. Monies in excess of Ghc300million had illegally been paid under dubious circumstances and as at December, 2014, only 14.5 million had been retrieved, according to the deputy Attorney General Dominic Ayine.
Yaw Donkor
Mr. Yaw Donkor, a former national security coordinator was alleged to have awarded an unlawful contract to Messrs Santa worth $279.4 million. This corruption saga is one of the numerous cases that the special prosecutor may have interest in pursuing as he describes Mr. Yaw Donkor’s predicament as karma for the abuse of the constitutional right of follow citizens.
Akwasi Brobbey
(Senior writer and editor at TIC)