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General News of Thursday, 3 December 2015
Source: Graphic.com.gh
Mahama and Martin Amidu in an enhanced photo
A former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mr Martin Amidu, says his criticism of the President are premised on his President’s deviation from the core values of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and not on personal grounds, as some people perceive.
“I have nothing personal– envy, bitterness or anger– against the government or the President.,” he said, explaining that the disagreements were on matters of constitutional principles, beliefs, values and policy issues.
. “On each occasion, I was candid on the need for the President to run a transparent and accountable government in accordance with the core values of the NDC as condition precedent for my unflinching support and participation in his government.,” he wrote.
He indicated that he would never allow emotions to take the better part of his judgement of conflict analysis and dynamics, pointing out that, “as a matter of history and fact, there is no basis for the blame and attributions ascribed to my disagreements on principles and/or values with the NDC government.”
According to him, he was instrumental in the selection of Mr Mahama as running mate to Professor Mills in the 2008 elections when the then President Jerry John Rawlings was rooting for Mrs Betty Mould-Iddrisu as the running mate while other party leaders lobbied for Alhaji Mohammad Mumuni.
“When I reluctantly joined the Mills/Mahama government in 2009, I had no problem with the Vice-President except the manner in which he and Oteng Adjei sought to push my hand in agreeing not to prosecute the E. O. Group case by getting President Mills to grant an executive consent to the group to sell their shares and for me to grant them indemnity from prosecution.
“I stood my ground and refused to grant the indemnity as the Attorney-General,” he said, adding that if there were other disagreements, they were purely on professional grounds. Mr Amidu also said even when he went out of government, he kept a kind of relationship with Mr Mahama in the period after the death of President Mills.
He then mentioned how he (Mahama) as a Minister of Communications, recommended the privatisation of the Graphic Corporation which he opposed.
“He almost privatised the Graphic Corporation and I had to write a very strong memorandum calling the government’s attention to the fact that if we commercialised and privatised all the state-owned media houses as he had championed, the letter and spirit of provisions of the constitution on state-owned media and their role under the constitution will be rendered nugatory,” he wrote.
Mr Amidu said those who knew him from childhood to date would attest to his principles of always insisting on justice and fair play for the ordinary people. “ I am just living out my character,” he said.
He said his long association with the Rawlings government was based on the former President’s commitment to upholding the ideals of the NDC.
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