Audio By Carbonatix
Leader of OccupyGhana, Kweku Segbefia, has expressed his disappointment in President Akufo-Addo for accepting Mr Martin Amidu’s resignation.
He believes the move has a ripple effect on all other government institutions as they may no longer have the temerity to assert their independence of the executive.
"We believe we have lost a unique opportunity to have asserted the independence of the Office of Special Prosecutor. This would have set a very good precedent for all other officeholders going forward".
He stated that as a patriot, Mr Amidu should have "stood his grounds" as some government institutions like the Auditor General's department have where they went to court to assert their independence of the executive.
"So why run with your tail in between your legs when some other independent bodies who felt this encroached have sooner walked over the executive than resign?" he asked.
"This is the first time we have set up an office of the Special Prosecutor and so it was important for him also to fight his own fight assert his own independence and have the executive back off".
By accepting Amidu's resignation, Mr Segbefia also believes that the President has prevented Ghanaians from getting to the bottom of the issues raised the executive in Amidu's letter of resignation.
“We feel that he’s literally been left off the hook because if the Presidency had refused to accept it, he would have been forced to come and really tell us the issues that he seems to be voicing out that they are encroaching upon his independence, and we would have gotten to the bottom of the matter and then decided what to do whenever institutions that have some constitutional immunity from interference from the executive come under fire like he claimed that he did,” he said.
Martin Amidu, amongst other claims, accused government of failing to ensure the independence and freedom of his office in the execution of its constitutional mandate.
But during an interview with Joy News Wednesday, the Occupy Ghana boss maintained that the former Attorney General's resignation was a move in the wrong direction.
According to him, Martin Amidu's voice could have laid the foundation for establishing the freedom of other state institutions.
“We have lost a very good opportunity to have asserted the independence of the Office of the Special Prosecutor. This would have set up a very good precedent for all other officeholders going forward and now we’ve lost that,” he said.
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