NDC Should Have Used Martin Amidu - Rawlings

Ex-president Jerry John Rawlings says the National Democratic Congress (NDC) missed an opportunity to benefit from the talents of former Attorney-General, Martin Amidu when it stripped him of his position.

The former A-G fell out with his party in 2012 after he was dismissed for allegedly misconducting himself in a meeting chaired by the then president John Evans Atta Mills. 

Although he was out of active politics, the ex-A-G took on the then NDC government and challenged the payment of ¢51.2million to businessman Alfred Woyome.
 
The Supreme Court in 2014 held the money was fraudulently paid and directed the state to take steps to retrieve it from the NDC financier. 

Mr Rawlings believes the party he founded could have made use of the many talents of Mr Amidu.

"Martin should have been used by us (NDC) but no, we checked him in, when he is an embodiment of what we stand for,” he told a gathering of cadres and activists at a Town Hall meeting in Accra Saturday.

Mr Amidu has been active as an anti-corruption campaigner contributing to issues bothering on the management of public funds until his nomination as Special Prosecutor.

His appointment divided opinion in the country, but ex-president Rawlings said it was to be expected because of the calibre of the former A-G.

“When people in NDC and NPP are equally angry about the appointment of Martin Amidu, what should it tell you?" he asked, chiding the party for not being proactive. 

Mr Rawlings was recently criticised after he suggested there could be a political explanation for the bloody robberies that have been recorded in Ghana since the beginning of 2018.

But he remains unfazed despite the condemnation.

"If such reports come out and we cannot analyze them properly then people would always outwit us and our own people would also do the same,” he said.