Pressure is mounting on Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Martin Amidu, to name the �criminal minister� he alluded to in his bombshell press statement issued last week.
With the pressure coming from his colleague ministers, party activists who are reeling from the abrasive fallout of the bombshell and members of the opposition parties, especially the largest grouping among them, many are conjecturing how long Mr. Amidu would keep the name to his chest.
Some NDC members are also calling for his head, saying that with the explosive statement accusing a colleague minister of criminality, Mr. Amidu had lost the right to remain in government.
The Attorney General is said not to be happy with the government�s handling of the Woyome GH�58million scandal, describing it as a big crime against the people of Ghana, citing an unnamed minister of state as conduit.
If the bombshell was intended to gag the newspapers he described as rented NDC press in his statement, it appears to have achieved a reverse effect as the publications go overdrive in their sabre-rattling assignment against him.
The reactions, a potpourri of impressions, range from those calling on him to resign to an entreaty to the President not to brush the concerns under the carpet but to delve into them.
In his response to the fiery statement, a member of the Communications team of the party, Felix Kwakye-Ofosu, described the statement as a mark of irresponsibility on the part of the Attorney General, suggesting also that by not resigning from his position he had chickened out.
The honourable thing for the AG to have done was to include a resignation letter to the statement he issued, adding, �Indeed, he also creates the impression that he is a very principled person, I expected that at the tail end of this statement, in keeping with his exposition of principle, he would have added that he was quitting. If I were him, I would have resigned immediately I issued this statement because he has made his position in government untenable.�
Continuing to tongue-lash Mr Amidu, he said what he had done was a betrayal and showed a lack of commitment and passion for the job, affronting the President in a manner which suggested that without him, the government could not be run.
As the opposition NPP attacks the NDC, loquacious Kwakye Ofosu said, the AG had remained silent; yet when sections of the NDC press reprimanded him for non-performance, �you go out of your way to blow your top and say things that indict your own government, I think it is the height of irresponsibility.�
His advice to Mr. Amidu to resign seems to echo the alleged position by close associates of President Mills that the AG should be fired.
�The implications of this explosive statement are such that it would make sense to me if the Attorney General had decided that he was on his way out of the government and for that matter take steps to exit on his own,� he said on Joy Fm News File programme on Saturday.
Deputy General Secretary of the NDC, Kofi Adams, who shares former President Jerry John Rawlings�s distaste for President Mills�s governance template, regards Mr Amidu�s statement as an important one which could cost the party an electoral disaster if neglected.
He said on a PeaceFM programme shortly after the release of the statement that it was a pointer to a prevailing rift between cabinet and government, exposing sabotage within.
As an outburst which reduces the trust and confidence people have in the governance system, he advised against the tendency to confine the issues raised in the missive to the backburners.
�The earlier government addresses the issue the better because it could result in a lot of situations. This can even cost the party an election, it can reduce the respect and trust that people have in the governance system and I believe the AG has raised issues which are of importance that should not be swept under the carpet. It will not help us in anyway� Kofi Adams said.
Expectedly, the NPP is making mincemeat of the explosive statement, with the National Chairman of the party, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, demanding that President Mills acts upon a claim by the AG that a certain minister is covering up a crime of gargantuan dimension.
He told the New Statesman that �the government�s chief legal officer has made serious allegations against another member of the President�s cabinet. The allegation, coming from this GH�58 million fraudulent payment to Alfred Woyome is that a cabinet minister is perverting the cause of justice to cover this gargantuan crime against the state.�
Jake asked President Mills to, for once, show that he can stand up for the national interest.
The Minority Leader in Parliament, Osei Kyei- Mensah-Bonsu, on his part, stated that the explosive statement is an indication of the state of confusion in which the Mills-led government is in.
The statement, which he described as pregnant with a lot of connotations, �is baffling and frightening.�
For him, the many calls for the AG�s resignation or dismissal are premature, explaining that the core issues raised in the statement should be probed and those identified dealt with.
He posed a question: �Why won�t anybody begin by going into the issues that he has raised like the threats to his life? I think it should begin from there.�
The statement which the AG issued last week took many by surprise, being a critique of the Mills government of which he is a part.
He mentioned how a colleague minister had engaged some NDC newspapers to denigrate him and hound him out of office because that person was scared that his complicity in a rip-off against Ghana would be exposed.
Mr. Amidu�s concerns are parallel to what Party Founder Jerry John Rawlings has harped about from the early days of the incumbent government.
It can only be speculated how long Mr. Amidu can hold out to the increasing pressure, overt and covert, mounting on him.
He had stated in his bombshell he was prepared for the ultimate adding that he did not beg to be appointed to the position.
�As for the section of the rented NDC press calling for my removal or dismissal from office, I wish to assure them that I never begged to be appointed Attorney-General: I opposed it on four separate occasions. That criminal section of the NDC press should be assured that I am ready, able and willing for that eventuality. The inescapable fact is that at the end of the day, truth will prevail over falsehood in the Republic of Ghana,� he stressed.
By A.R. Gomda
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