Former Special Prosecutor Martin Amiduhas reacted harshly to the Chairman of Parliament’s Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs’ description of him as a “konongo kaya”.
Kwame Anyimadu-Antwi, in response to Martin Amidu’s criticism of the current Special Prosecutor’s investigation into the Labianca Company Limited, described the former SP as taking on work that he has not been asked to do.
His description was qualified with the popular Akan word, “Konongo kaya” which seems to have not gone down well with the former SP.
In a six-page response to his criticism of the Labianca investigation, Martin Amidupointed out the origins of the word as a disparaging word used on the people from the Northern part of the country where he comes from.
“A member of parliament who is the chairperson of the Constitutional and Legal Committee of Parliament, Mr. Kwame Anyimadu-Antwi, within hours of the publication of the twenty-page article stooped so low to call me by the pejorative Gold Coast Colony and Ashanti name assigned my forebearers, northerners, from the Northern Territories of the British Protectorate in Konongo, as Konongokaya. No amount of attempting to clean the pejorative origins of the word “Konongo kaya” can hide the insult to Northerners in the colony or to me as one of their descendants. Like the Kayayei of today, we are proud northerners and proud of our identities,” Martin Amidusaid.
According to Martin Amidu, the Committee Chairman failed to read his 20-page criticism of the Special Prosecutor’s investigation and therefore raises questions about his work as head of the committee that supervisors legal matters brought before parliament.
“It is however a shame that such a person calls himself a lawyer and Chairman of the Constitutional and Legal Committee of the Parliament of the modern day Ghana founded on March 6, 1957, and passing laws for citizens under the 1992 Constitution. If simply reading a 20-page article was problematic for such a member of parliament to help him argue in a civilized manner without casting invectives at the author, then one wonders how seriously the bills and regulations are scrutinized under such a lazy chairperson before Parliament passes them. Surely, Ghana deserves better representation in Parliament,” he wrote.
The OSP, on August 8, 2022, published an investigative report which cited Labianca Group of Companies, a frozen foods company owned by a member of the Council of State, Eunice Jacqueline Buah Asomah-Hinneh, for evading import duties above ¢1.074 million.
According to the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, Ms Asomah-Hinneh used her position as a member of the Council of State and member of the Board of Directors of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) to get a favourable decision from the Customs Division.
But reacting to the report, Martin Amidu, who once occupied the OSP office, in his 20-page document, described the Labiance report as hollow, without mandate and unconstitutional.
According to Martin Amidu, “the report seriously violates the statutory mandate of the OSP under the 1992 Constitution” and is also inconsistent with Act 959 and the 1992 Constitution.
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