The latest press release issued by the Hon. Martin Amidu, Ghana's Attorney General, confirms my view of him, as a decent and highly principled gentleman. President Mills and Mother Ghana must be thankful that he currently serves Ghana as its Attorney General.
He is just the type of politician Ghana needs today. His view of the nature of the society we ought to have, shows that he is someone on the right side of history. This is a nation that is gradually being ruined by elite rip-off.
And that is why today's crooks in the ruling National Democratic Congress
(NDC), definitely deserve the same fate as the crooks of yesteryear - who grew super-rich at Mother Ghana's expense, during the golden age of business for the perfidious Kufuor & Co.
If only more of his kind surrounded President Mills, and had his ear, the NDC wouldn't face such an uphill task securing a second-term in the December polls. The crooks who lurk in the shadows in the corridors of power at the Osu Castle and elsewhere in the Mills administration, have given the NDC a very bad name indeed.
That is why President Mills ought to take ex-President Rawlings' views on dealing with the crooks in the NDC seriously. If it is true that he is going to reshuffle his government's ministers then perhaps he ought to bring Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings into the cabinet as senior minister - and make her husband anti-corruption czar: in charge of a special presidential task force to root out corruption in the NDC: working in tandem with the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO).
As regards the section of the pro-NDC media, which has attracted the ire of the Hon. Martin Amidu, I agree with his view of them absolutely. They are a dreadful and unprofessional lot - and are indeed no different from much of the equally ghastly pro-New Patriotic Party (NPP) media: headed by the cheeky and oft-dissimulating Daily Guide.
Alas, the Hon. Martin Amidu's press release, does highlight the depths to which much of Ghanaian journalism has now sunk. It also highlights the mercenary nature of most of the politicking that goes on in this country - and the virtual absence of principle and the virtue of altruism in much of our national life.
It is a timely reminder that far too many Ghanaian journalists forget that they are members of what is supposed to be a profession, which collectively acts as a fourth arm of government - and whose watchdog role in society, places special responsibilities on all its practitioners.
In a mostly-corrupt society, such as ours, the main function of journalists operating in what has - for decades since the overthrow of Nkrumah - been a cash-strapped developing country with a chequered history, and which is now a stable oil-producing African nation with aspirations, ought to be: ensuring that ours becomes a society in which public life is guided by an ethos of probity and accountability; help to protect the national interest at all times; help nurture and protect Ghanaian democracy; defend the rights and liberties of all Ghanaians; ensure that due process and the rule of law underpin the day to day functioning of the executive, the legislature and the judiciary - as well as all the agencies, departments and state institutions, which come under those three arms of government.
Above all, they must help fight the few powerful and ruthless individuals, whose greedy ambitions constantly threaten the stability of our country, and the cohesion of the Ghanaian polity - whatever political flag-of-convenience those blackguards may fly: at any given point in time in our history.
The tragedy for our nation, is that the vast majority of Ghanaian journalists are the hirelings and paid agents, as well as bedfellows, of those selfsame blackguards, who over the years, have succeeded in hijacking the bulk of our nation's wealth, by stealth - in the name of private sector-led and market-driven economic development.
It has given those wealthy crooks perfect legal-cover and carte blanche to asset-strip Ghana with impunity - and in reality are nothing more than a set of self-serving policies, which enable our ruling elites to leverage the power of the Ghanaian nation-state, for successful collaboration with corrupt foreigners, to bleed our country dry and grow super-rich: all of them merrily riding off the backs of ordinary people, who are called upon to make never-ending sacrifices.
The Hon. Martin Amidu is a real hero of our times - and an example to all Ghanaian politicians. He deserves our respect and admiration.
Finally, dear reader, I shall end by reproducing an article I wrote in support of the Hon. Martin Amidu, when he came under unfair attack from a young journalist, then working for the Enquirer, who not too long after I posted that article, tragically lost his life, in a road accident, involving the bus he was travelling on. May his soul rest in peace.
The article was posted on my blog on
18/11/2011. Please read on:
"THE ENQUIRER'S DAY OF SHAME: MUST IT RENDER AN UNQUALIFIED APOLOGY TO THE HON. MARTIN AMIDU - GHANA'S ATTORNEY GENERAL?
An interesting news item that appeared in the 18th November 2011 edition of the general news web-page of www.ghanaweb.com, caught my eye.
It was a press statement issued on the 17th of November 2011, by the Attorney General, the Hon. Martin Amidu, as a rejoinder to a number of stories carried by the Enquirer newspaper, entitled: Re: “Tussle Over Judgment Debt A-G Attacks Business Tycoon …”
The Hon. Martin Amidu's rejoinder, paints an unflattering picture of the arrogance and tyranny, which many in the ignoramus-filled and mostly intolerant Ghanaian media world, are so guilty of. Indeed, in effect, his rejoinder shines a spotlight, on the dark side of Ghanaian journalism.
For the discerning individual, reading between the lines, the sense of outrage felt by a principled gentleman of the old school, the Hon. Martin Amidu, whose training as a lawyer, makes caution over many issues, second nature, was palpable.
Although couched in restrained language, the Attorney General was clearly scandalised by the lack of appreciation shown by the Enquirer's reporter, Samuel Abane Anaba, who it was so obvious, was oblivious of the limitation ethical considerations place on the reporting of matters that are sub judice, by the media.
It is understandable that seasoned lawyers, such as the Hon. Martin Amidu, who never forget the bounds of what is acceptable ethically in their profession, invariably feel that it is an affront to common decency and a travesty of natural justice, that today so many individuals, including even lawyers and journalists, whose training ought to make them super-cautious whenever matters before the law courts come to their notice - to avoid being in contempt of court - rather resort to trial-by-media tactics: co-opted by litigants as part of their strategy to win cases pending before the courts, or actually being tried.
The Attorney General's justifiable outrage, ought to make us question what motivates many in the Ghanaian media world, in such instances. What public interest consideration exactly, was driving that story in the Enquirer, one wonders?
Did the paper think that the Attorney General had a personal interest in frustrating a plaintiff in a matter before a court of competent jurisdiction in the Republic of Ghana?
Where exactly were the Enquirer's gate-keepers, whose professional duty it was to ensure that what so clearly ought never to have been carried by any responsible newspaper, alive to its civic responsibilities, was dropped - and was not allowed to appear in the paper's pages in the form they did: so that it could keep its reputation intact, that way?
Above all, as is usually the case in Ghana in such matters, was anyone paid substantial sums to put this outrageous example of irresponsible reportage of matters before the law courts, in the pages of what is supposed to be a leading newspaper in Ghana?
This is a story that those very intelligent people in charge of the Enquirer, ought to bow their heads in shame over. It also raises troubling questions about the personal integrity, or lack of it, of the paper's reporter, Samuel Abane Anaba.
Did he, or did he not, receive substantial sums as inducement to publish this disgraceful example of irresponsible journalism practice - in as far as matters sub judice goes? This has certainly not been the Enquirer's finest hour.
There are some who will say that to save face, and make amends for this series of unprofessional and outrageous stories concerning a matter before the law courts, at the very least, the paper ought to dismiss Samuel Abane Anaba - and render an unqualified apology to the Attorney General.
Samuel Abane Anaba has been highly irresponsible and unethical - in effect seeking to question the integrity of the Hon. Martin Amidu: by creating the impression that somehow Ghana's Attorney General had a hidden interest in a matter before the law courts, in which the Republic of Ghana is also a party. A word to the wise...
Tel (Powered by Tigo - the one mobile phone network in Ghana that actually works!): + 233 (0) 27 745 3109. "
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