Embittered Martin Amidu Betrays Mills

Some of his own party insiders say he is being blinded by his lingering desire to become the nation’s number two in the future after Professor John Atta Mills’ Presidency, others think he is not cut out for the Attorney General position, but his cronies who confided in The Republic says he is list enthused about his appointment, haven’t come only after the reshuffling of his predecessor who was thought to have less clout than him politically and legally.
The silence of Martin Amidu, Ghana’s current Attorney General on the ongoing judgment debt discourse is not accidental. The one time running mate, to the then Presidential candidate Atta Mills, has deliberately put himself in a compromising situation following a wacky political calculation, by a use and dump caucus group in the NDC, that he could become the next running mate after the Mills’ - Mahama Administration .
In a blatant disregard to his position (the Attorney General’s Office), and a betrayal of the president’s trust, Mr. Amidu exposed his bitterness, to staff of the AG department when he virtually threw out a request to give direction on the ongoing judgment debt settlement with Mr. Alfred Agbesi Woyome, which matter was pending before the court before he assumed office.
Deep-throats at the AG’s department says all Mr. Amidu has done since assuming office as an AG is to undermine his predecessor, adding “he has not pursued any new case since he became the Attorney General.
Mr. Martin Amidu has told the staff of the AG department in a plain language that “I do not intend to interfere in my predecessors instructions in this matter and subsequent actions by Attorneys.”
His Predecessor, Mrs Betty Mould Iddrisu, now Minister for Education had filed a writ in court, asking the court to stay execution of judgment, on grounds of mistake after allegedly citing a new document which the government hopes to be evidence that may denounce its liability to Mr. Alfred Woyome.
Long after his assumption of office after the January 2011 major reshuffling, his lackadaisical attitude towards cases being handled by his predecessor and which were still pending before the court, one Mrs Amma A. Gaisie, a Solicitor-General at the AGs department sent Mr. Martin Amidu a memo over the pending case of THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL v ALFRED WOYOME for his advice on direction of prosecution, but against her expectation, Mr. Martin Amidu responded in a cheeky manner, uncharacteristic of someone who was trusted with his position.
In his responds to the memo dated November 15 2011, and which has been intercepted by The Republic, Mr. Martin Amidu sought to undermine her predecessor and condemned the AG office’s involvement in the matter.
In her memo to Mr. Martin Amidu, the Solicitor-General had noted that Senior State Attoneys and Chief State Attorneys had complained about their unpreparedness, to handle this case and the weakness of the case and conveyed their recommendation that the AG reverts to the initial settlement of the case or engage Mrs. Betty Mould Iddrissu, the former AG, Mr. Agyemang Manu, Former Deputy Minister of Finance under the Kuffuor regime and Mr. Paul Asimenu- Director, Legal Affairs of the Ministry of Finance to provide evidence at the court.
She continued that she has spoken to Mr. Paul Asimenu who expressed his willingness to give evidence, even though he confirmed that Mr. Alfred Woyome was entitled to his fee. Mr. Asimenu was part of the government team, which conducted due diligence on the companies, prior to the award of the CAN 2008 contract to Waterville.
The Solicitor General, requested Mr. Martin Amidu, to write to invite the aforementioned person to come and give testimony on behalf of government.
However, Mr. Martin Amidu stated in his disdained letter that, “I did not assign the case to the Attorneys and I am not the one going to take them out of it”.
Rather strangely the embittered AG, indicated that he was not the one who authorised the trial of the case.
“The Attorney should have known better from the beginning that they were uncomfortable handling the case” retorted Mr. Amidu and should have sought direction”, he altered.
In his attempt to shift responsibilities to his predecessor, Mr. Martin Amidu continued by stating that “what the Chief State Attorney is saying at the portfolio 16 m/2 referred earlier must been known to him before I assumed office on 25/ 1/11 and cannot be an excuse”.
According to insiders who spoke to the Republic about how the Martin Amidu’s disdain respond demoralised the AG’s department, he is surprised that Mr. Amidu is purporting to be interested in the case after the President had issued an order for investigations and prosecution of anyone culpable for causing financial lost to the state.
The Republic can say with comprehensive proof that, Mr. Martin Amidu has not hidden his bitterness for not being appointed the first Attorney General under the Mills regime, a development he sees as a deliberate attempt to embarrass him, as it was widely tipped by many to become Ghana’s Attorney General after the elections.
Following the second major cabinet reshuffle by President Mills, Amidu became the Attorney general and Minister for Justice of Ghana
Mr. Amidu served as the Deputy Attorney-General for about the last four years of the Provisional National Defence Council military government. Amidu is a member of the National Democratic Congress After civilian rule was established in the Fourth Republic in January 1993, he continued to serve in the government of Jerry Rawlings as Deputy Attorney-General. This he did for both terms lasting eight years until January 2001.