General News of Thursday, 3 August 2017
Source: Myjoyonline.com
2017-08-03
Popular anti-corruption campaigner, Martin Amidu has warned the President Nana Akufo-Addo to be wary of his inner circle in parliament following the sudden withdrawal of an anti-corruption legislation.
Martin Amidu pointed accusing fingers at the Speaker of Parliament Rt. Hon. Rev. Prof. Mike Oquaye and the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu.
The Speaker of Parliament had cautioned the President to “thread cautiously” on the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) promise to create the Office of the Special Prosecutor to fight political corruption.
But Amidu sees the caution as akin to Pontius Pilate washing his hands of the trial of Jesus Christ.
“…the Rt. Hon. Speaker of Parliament, had like Pontius Pilate distanced himself from the Bill and any consequences a rush in enacting the Bill would have in the future”.
The Majority Leader and also Parliamentary Affairs Minister is also accused of ceding space to the opposition National Democratic Congress to claim victory for pressuring the government into withdrawing the bill.
Amidu suggested, the Majority leader should have been aggressive in explaining, the President had ordered the withdrawal to correct errors in the bill.
But he didn’t, Amidu said and added him to those he says, fit the proverb “when an ant bites you, it is in your cloth or dress”.
Despite an overwhelming NPP majority in Parliament and the President’s stated hurry to implement his programs, the government is yet to show any results seven months in office.
Martin Amidu notes, the promised legislation of the Special Prosecutor helped Akufo-Addo win power.