Co-chair of the Citizens Movement Against Corruption, Edem Senanu, has stated that the allegations made by former Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu against the current Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng on procurement breaches do not hold water.
According to him, upon reviewing the laws supporting the Special Prosecutor, there is no evidence to substantiate Mr Amidu's claims.
Speaking on JoyNews' The Pulse on Wednesday, May 22, Senanu said, “In fact, looking at each one of them, the foundations of the evidence and the issues don’t hold water as far as I’m concerned.
"Right from the issue of staff, where if you look at the law—Section 16(3) says that the board shall advise the Special Prosecutor on recruitment and selection of senior staff and secretary—the law backing the Special Prosecutor is such that on reflection, there is nothing that has gone wrong,” Mr Senanu said.
His comments follow Mr Amidu's petition to President Akufo-Addo to remove Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng from office.
The petition, issued on April 30, 2024, was subsequently conveyed to Chief Justice Gertrude Torkonoo on May 6, 2024.
Mr Amidu alleged procurement breaches in the purchase of vehicles for the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) and abuses involving judges and the administration of justice.
Other allegations included violations of citizens’ rights through arrests and detentions, violations of the right to information, and improper appointments of personnel to the office.
The President has forwarded the petition to the Chief Justice, who has yet to make a prima facie determination.
On the back of this, Mr Senanu argued that the procurement process for vehicles at the OSP went through proper channels, including an application to the public procurement authority.
This, he criticised Mr Amidu for writing about procurement issues without providing evidence.
“Each one of them, when we go into the merits of them, there is a difficulty, so it’s up to the Chief Justice to decide. But strictly speaking, I can see why we had difficulty with him.
"He [Martin Amidu] clearly had a certain understanding of the interpretation of the law which was why we were not seeing the progress. Now, we have a new person whose interpretation is more progressive, it’s more purposeful and what you are doing is a different of opinion of interpretation and you think on that basis, the person should be impeached? That’s not the case,” Mr Senanu added.
Mr Senanu stressed that the former Special Prosecutor cannot simply call for impeachment based on differing legal interpretations, especially when no ruling has been made on the correct interpretation of the law.
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