Mahama can be impeached over Waterville, Isofoton scandals – Amidu

Former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Martin Amidu, has stated that President John Dramani Mahama is not serious about fighting the corruption menace that has engulfed his administration, accusing him of engaging in “opportunism, propaganda and downright disingenuity” with his public utterances about the fight against the canker.

Mr Amidu added that he was amazed that the president was expecting “the support and involvement of all Ghanaians to sustain this fight against corruption”, wondering how Ghanaians could do so “when the President who utters these supposedly noble words is not known to encourage those who have already shown the way in the fight against corruption upon the success of their endeavours.”

He noted that “When Government uses the power at its disposal to victimize and continue to victimize those who have and still fight against corruption, abuse of power and impunity, such exhortations on public occasions look like self-serving propaganda. Walk your talk, Mr. President or forget about fighting corruption and impunity.”

Mr Amidu reminded President Mahama about the fact that the fight against corruption, abuse of power and impunity must be proactive and not reactive, adding: “We do not need to wait to be charged with poor leadership in fighting it before reacting in seeking to show leadership where we had all the opportunity but failed to be proactive. Good leaders act; they do not wait to react to situations.”

According to the former A-G, “Ghanaians will have difficulty electing another President from the geopolitical north which the President and myself come from for more than thirty years after he has left office should this President fail to fight corruption, abuse of office and impunity in obedience to our ancestors and God during his tenure of office. Mark my words!”

In a statement to react to the latest set of directives issued by President Mahama to combat corruption, Mr Amidu particularly accused the president of trying to expropriate the orders of the Supreme Court in the Waterville and Isofoton cases as part of his anti-corruption campaign agenda.

He drew the attention of President Mahama to the fact that he has no option but to obey the orders of the Supreme Court, adding that there are grave consequences for him and his Government should they fail to obey and execute the orders and directions of the Supreme Court as clearly spelt out in articles 2(2), (3) and (4) of the Constitution.

According to Mr Amidu “failure of the President in particular to ensure the execution of the judgements in the Waterville and Isofoton cases could open him up to charges of high crime under the Constitution and constitute grounds for his removal from office.”

“It is my contention that for anybody who is under such a burdensome duty to execute judgements brought about willfully and intentionally by his own Government, to turn round and claim to be pursuing an anti-corruption agenda is to engage in mere propaganda, and opportunism par excellence,” Mr Amidu added.

President Mahama Friday directed the Attorney-General and Finance Ministry to “do all in their power” to retrieve all judgment debts paid to foreign firms Waterville and Isofoton, as well as asking “the Ministry of Youth and Sports to suspend with immediate effect all payments under all GYEEDA contracts except payments of arrears to workers, beneficiaries, up to the end of the year”.

But Martin Amidu believes that the “lumping of the execution of the judgments and orders of the Supreme Court in the Waterville and Isofoton declarations with suspected misappropriations and misapplications of public funds under this very Government in the contracts with SADA, GYEEDA, and the Ghana Revenue Authority smacks of opportunism, propaganda and downright disingenuity.”

According to Mr Amidu, it is not for President Mahama or his Government to decide whether or not to retrieve the monies involved in the deliberate breaches of the Constitution perpetrated by the very Government in favour of its foreign friends in Waterville and Isofoton, as the Supreme Court has made those conclusive declarations, orders and directions already.

Mr Amidu wonders why President Mahama is not pursuing an anti-corruption agenda with the residual matters left by the Waterville and Isofoton cases, contending that his Government “is not proactive in this respect because it is not serious about fighting corruption.”

The man now known as Citizen Vigilante explained that even though Austro-Invest Management Services Limited had not been registered as an external company in Ghana, and had been liquidated in Switzerland to avoid liability in the Waterville related cases, Lithur, Brew & Co. were litigating on their behalf in the High Courts of Justice in Ghana contrary to law.

“Is Interpol unable to get Mr. Raymond Smith because of the alleged association of Lithur, Brew & Co with the Government of Ghana in the management of three Ministries? Secondly, is the Government still unaware of the Ministers of its Government implicated in the gargantuan crimes I referred to on 12th January 2012 and the public officers who actively facilitated the unconstitutional payments to Waterville and Isofoton?” Martin Amidu asked.

He wondered if President Mahama was not aware that only one month after the Attorney-General appointed a firm of forensic auditors to investigate whether or not the Government had a contract with Isofoton, the then Deputy Attorney General (Ebow Barton Odro) signed a settlement with Isofoton and the Attorney General followed up with instruction to Ministry of Finance for payment.

“The Government paid over US$400,000.00 for the work that was done by the Auditors who opined in January 2011 that the Government had no contract with Isofoton. How are the people of Ghana going to have the money, wasted in engaging the Auditors without waiting for their report before settling the Isofoton case, repaid to the consolidated fund?” he asked

Martin Amidu stated that he would not be surprised when Ghanaians are told that these are matters waiting for the Sole Commissioner on Judgment Debts to deal with.

“But that is precisely where the propaganda and deception about fighting corruption lies. What prevented the Government through the Attorney General from directing the Commissioner/CID to investigate and have these matters prosecuted before the Sole Commissioner’s report comes out somewhere next year?

“The Government knows that the Sole Commissioner’s report when it is submitted will take not less than one year for the gestation period to ripen and give persons adversely affected the right to appeal to the Court of Appeal and then to the Supreme Court. This process could take several years to go through the Court process after the Sole Commissioner’s report. Ghanaians will with the effusion of time forget all about the Sole Commissioner’s report. Corruption will go on as usual. By this stratagem of this Government people bleeding this nation through bribery and corruption will go off the hook.

“This is why the Government’s promise to implement the Sole Commissioner’s report is hollow, looked at from the conditions precedent for this Government to be able to implement such constitutional reports,” Martin Amidu noted.