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Panelists at a media discussion on the resignation of Special Prosecutor, have criticised the poor handling of the matter, saying, things should have been done to prevent the needless public drama.

They said it was absolutely unnecessary to have made public the report on the corruption risk assessment of the Agyapa Royalties Limited Transaction and the subsequent response from the Presidency.

Professor Henry Kwesi Prempeh, Executive Director, Centre for Democratic Development, noted that a lot of the drama could have been avoided if things had been rightly done.

He said, “if Mr. Martin Amidu had any reason to or cause to proceed with prosecution, the right place to go was the court and not the public domain because the information was not for public consumption”.

Dr. Emmanuel De-Graft Owusu Ansah, a Senior Lecturer, Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), shared that position and said it was unfortunate that correspondence from both the Presidency and Mr. Amidu had to be done through the media.

He stated that that the corruption risk assessment report should never have been publicized.
Instead, the report should have been shared as a memo to stakeholders who could take positive steps on it.

“Risk assessment is usually an identification of a threat or hazard to find ways to mitigate it completely” and, therefore, it should have been handled in a better way than it was done, he added.

Mr. Martin Kpebu, a lawyer and rights activist, said there was every indication that there was cooperation from both sides towards the goal of ensuring that the Office of the Special Prosecutor successfully carried out its mandate.

“Even if there was interference from the Executive, Mr. Amidu should have kept the fight on to increase the confidence Ghanaians had in him as the strongman citizen vigilante.”

Mr. Amidu took office in February 2018, and resigned his position on Monday, November 16, 2020, alleging interference in his work by the Executive and threats on his life by certain individuals.

The Presidency has since denied the interference accusation encouraged him to assist the police with the details of those behind the alleged threats to bring them to justice.
The threats, he said, came after he conducted the anti-corruption risk assessment on the Agyapa Royalty Limited Transactions.

The Government has said the Agyapa Royalty Minerals transaction, is one of the key strategies to beat the long-standing problem of lack of capital for developmental projects.

Its main purpose is to offer financing to gold mining companies that would develop new mining projects in exchange for royalties or revenue once the mines started producing gold.
It involves securitising future flows of revenue with proceeds from the extractive sector.

Following the risk assessment report, the President ordered the suspension of its implementation for a relook by Parliament to deal with the threats identified by the Special Prosecutor.
Meanwhile, the Inspector-General of Police has also been directed to ensure that he is provided a 24-hour security service.