The Special Prosecutor nominee has said he turned down an invitation to become a justice of the Supreme Court in 1999, stressing taking up the appointment is not about status.  

Rather, Martin Amidu in his opening statement at Parliament’s Appointment Committee Tuesday stressed that his decision to accept the appointment as the country’s first Special Prosecutor is because of his passion to fight corruption.  

According to the Citizen Vigilante as he is popularly called, efforts by prominent public officers like former Speaker of Parliament, Justice Bamford Addo and Supreme Court Justice, William Atuguba to persuade him to take up an appointment as a Supreme Court Justice, failed.

The former Attorney General said as a person who has fought corruption all his life, he sees the position to be another opportunity to continue with his corruption fight and not to glorify himself.

“This is to demonstrate that my acceptance of the position of Special Prosecutor is not because of the status, but because of the high ideals attached to making sure the ordinary people of this country can have the benefit of the resources of this country by stopping the leakages and seepages that have gone on since the coming to force of the 1992 constitution,” he said.

Since the announcement of his nomination, which has generally been lauded by most Ghanaians, members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) have questioned how impartial he will be.

But Mr Amidu has stressed he will not use his office to settle personal scores as his critics have pointed out.

According to the former Attorney-General, he can live with “decent people” who are equally passionate about stopping corruption and not selfish criminals.

“This country is not a milking cow [and] whether I am approved or not I will continue to fight corruption,” the non-compromising anti-corruption campaigner said.