Deputy Information Minister, Baba Jamal, has stated that though the dismissal of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Martin Amidu is "unfortunate" the former government appointee had it coming.
To him, there was no way President Mills could have folded his hands over a situation where allegations are bandied about without shred of evidence being provided.
President John Evans Atta Mills on Thursday, gave Mr. Amidu the marching off orders after he “misconducted” himself at a meeting that was supposed to serve as a platform for him to substantiate an allegation he made against an unnamed colleague minister involved in "gargantuan crimes.”
In the wake of the fiery response of a statement he issued last week, which among others alleged a cover-up of "gargantuan crimes” against the state by a colleague cabinet minister and the mercenary nature of some members of the media sympathetic to the cause of the ruling NDC, President Mills, at a closed door meeting with the A-G last Friday, demanded him to substantiate his claims or jump ship.
Mr Amidu, on January 11, 2012, signed and issued a statement titled, “Response to Malicious Libels against the Attorney-General”.
In the statement, he claimed, among other things, that “... colleague minister of state who perceived my integrity and professionalism as a lawyer was a threat to the concealment of gargantuan crimes against the people of Ghana in which they might be implicated”.
Mr Amidu again alleged, “Fairness requires that NDC criminals be prosecuted by me as well, as an independent and impartial Attorney-General, albeit appointed by the NDC Government.”
But it seems the A-G failed to meet the president's demand that he provide evidence to back his claim culminating in the axe being brought on him on Thursday afternoon.
Speaking on Citi FM’s Eye Witness News, the Deputy Information Minister said President Mills was justified in taking such a ‘decisive step’, adding that had Mr Martin Amidu substantiated his allegation, perhaps this “self-inflicted” action could have been prevented.
“It’s an unfortunate situation; we are all sad about it but I must also say I think that this particular incident is self-inflicted because the statement that he came out with, clearly made some very serious allegations and those allegations do not only affect the Attorney General but the seat of government as well. Because when you say there are colleague ministers who want to perpetrate gargantuan crimes against the state then you are virtually calling other ministers criminals and of course as Attorney General you need to substantiate these allegations so that we can further take actions against those who are committing those crimes…We should rather commend the President for taking such an action. It is the right thing to do and it is in the right direction…we don’t expect the president to sit down and fold his hands when allegations are made without substantiating. When this happens, he is rather supporting corruption…we should commend him for taking such a decisive step,” Baba Jamal said.
Source: Rebecca Addo Tetteh/Peacefmonline.com
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