The Plenary of Parliament has approved the nomination of Martin Amidu as Ghana’s first Special Prosecutor.
It comes after the Appointments Committee approved him by consensus after the Tamale North MP Alhassan Suhyini voted for the nomination after dissenting initially.
An earlier attempt by Former deputy attorney general Dominic Ayine to stop the approval was met with heavy heckling by members of the House.
Ayine who has sued the state and Amidu over his age suitability for the Special Prosecutor job was hooted at by some MPs as he stood on his feet to address the chamber.
“Mr. Speaker I am inviting your good self to make a determination humbly on this matter, in respect of this matter which is before the Supreme Court on the qualification or eligibility of the nominee,” Ayine noted, citing his basis from order 93 of the standing orders of Parliament.
However reacting to the intervention, the Majority leader Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, argued that precedence before the house suggested the nominee could be approved by the House despite the pending case at the court.
Mr. Amidu will now have to be sworn by President Akufo-Addo to become the Special Prosecutor.
The Special Prosecutor IS a specialized agency to investigate specific cases of corruption involving public officers, politically-exposed persons as well as individuals in the private sector implicated in corrupt practices and to prosecute the offences on the authority of the Attorney-General.
The Office is also expected to help reduce the workload on existing investigative agencies and, thereby, enhance their effectiveness.
The establishment of the Office of the Special Prosecutor has become necessary in view of the institutional bottlenecks that impede the fight against corruption.
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com
