Today in history: There is more state money to be collected - Amidu

Seven years ago, today, Mr. Martin Amidu after the judgment against Waterville stated that the USD47 million they received was peanuts, compared to what has been lost to the state and yet is retrievable.

According to Mr. Amidu, we have messed ourselves up so badly as a country, and our partisan politics is not helping matters as people now don’t mind conniving with unscrupulous business people to dupe the nation, he added.

“I do not want to take the shine from the judgment itself. It is not about Martin Amidu, the judgment is more important,” he told the Scandal in an interview after the judgment.

Read the full story

Read the full story originally published on January 31, 2006, on Ghanaweb

It took a lot of cajoling to get Martin Amidu to speak. He said he did not want to speak on the recent judgment he got against Waterville and offered an explanation; “I do not want to take the shine from the judgment itself. It is not about Martin Amidu, the judgment is more important.”

In the end what we got was more of a friendly conversation than an interview but we still think it worth sharing with our readers. In the One and a Half hour long conversation, one thing was clear; Martin Amidu thinks the USD47 million is peanuts compared to what has been lost to the state and yet is retrievable.

He said as a country, we have messed ourselves up so badly, and our partisan politics is not helping matters. He said, across the political divide, there are people who always put their selfish interests over and above that of the country. Such people don’t mind conniving with unscrupulous business people to dupe the nation, he added.

Mr. Amidu talked about the emergence of a political elitist class whose preoccupation is to build political dynasties in which they and their families will continue to rule over the vast majority of Ghanaians whose economic wellbeing continues to decline.

Their strategy is to take control over the economy through the vast business empires they are building for themselves, and ultimately take control over the political structures and perpetuate their influence over who rules Ghana.

Martin Amidu said there are many outstanding matters of impropriety in the handling of government business that should be pursued and corrected. He said his experience at the Attorney-General’s Department has opened his eyes to the gargantuan crimes that can be committed against the state if wrong people are put in positions of leadership.

He said he had to fight his own government and party purely on the grounds of principle and for the overriding interest of Ghana, adding that, if in even the recent case against Waterville the Government, represented by the Attorney-General was the first defendant.

“So when I hear people say the government helped me to prosecute the case I laugh. How can the government which was a defendant in this matter help me prosecute the case?” In which way did they help me? He asked.

He also challenged those who say he was removed from his position as Attorney-General for ‘misconduct’ to prove it. He said in a letter to the former Chief of Staff and copied to the Ghana Bar Association, he personally challenged the former Chief of Staff to show in what ways he misconducted himself, but he received no response.

Mr. Amidu said his letter to the former Chief of Staff narrating the events preceding his removal from office was widely circulated and publicized in the media so those who want the facts should visit those publications.