The Office of
the Special Prosecutor, has put a total of eight officials before the courts
for alleged corruption-related offences, six of whom are public servants.
However, it wonders why the six public servants,
though facing the courts, are still allowed to hold their offices when the law
requires that such officers either be suspended or interdicted.
Martin Amidu, the Special Prosecutor, who made
the revelation, bemoaned such acts did not augur well for the fight against
corruption and insisted that “when a public servant is suspected of crime and
he is being charged, he is expected either to be suspended or interdicted.
While expressing some frustrations about what he termed as a “bi-partisan attempt to sabotage” his work, he counted among his gains the eight who are currently standing trial and 20 others whom he hinted will soon be put before court.
“If you
don’t do that or you do that discriminatorily, you have lowered the bar against
the fight against corruption, the suspension of the former Public Procurement
Authority boss, Adjenim Boateng Adjei, who is only under investigation for
corruption, while those put before courts remain in office raises questions.
“For instance, I have eight people in court,
about six of them are public servants currently, nobody has taken steps to interdict
or suspend them and yet Mr Adjei, whose case I’m investigating, has been
suspended already.
“What of those who are before a court of law?
How do others look at them? They can still go to their offices and maybe commit
more procurement malpractices? This is
not the first time the office of the Special Prosecutor is taking on public
institutions for a seeming sabotage of the corruption fight as I wrote an
epistle two months ago raising same concerns.
“If the country must win the fight against
corruption, then we must be ready to make commitments, dedications and
determinations that go beyond lip-service, we must establish good institutions,
well resourced, independent, not in theory, appoint officers who are not
politically inclined but are professional in their duties.
“They should not turn back looking for promotions from politicians, will not do what the politician tells them but will do what the constitution directs them because the fight against corruption is not a matter of rhetoric, it’s the matter of action,” Mr Amidu reiterated. -3news.com
