Justice Emile Short, a former Commissioner of the Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice says Mr. Amidu should not have resigned in spite of the challenges he was facing.
He said the Act that establish the office, Act, 2017 (Act 959) gives him the power to ignore any interference including the President the prevents him from doing his job.
Speaking in an interview on TV3, Justice Short said “The president’s letter indicates that the only occasion of which Mr Martin Amidu could have claimed that he interfered was regard to the Agyapa deal where Mr Amidu alleges that the president said he should hold on for a week . If this is what Mr Amidu considers as interference, I don’t really think that that is the kind of interference which will warrant his resignation.”
“Even though the Special Prosecutor has indicated in his letter of resignation that he felt that the president was interfering in his work, the Act grants him the power to exercise his functions without reference to anybody. And in even if someone else is giving him instructions he has the power to ignore those directives and to proceed with investigations and prosecution.” he added.
Mr. Amidu in his resignation letter on Monday, November 16, 2020 said he resigning because of government interference in his work, traumatic experiences he had after he released the corruption risk assessment on the Agyapa Royalties Deal amongst other reasons is why he resigned.
But the President in a statement on Tuesday, November 17, 2020 has refuted the claims.
Source: Ghana Waves