‘I Wasn’t A Student Minister’ – Amidu

Special Prosecutor nominee, Martin Amidu, has said he discharged his duties fully and distinguished himself creditably when he was the Deputy Attorney General and Minister of Justice under the National Democratic Congress.

At his vetting Tuesday morning, Mr. Amidu admitted he studied for a certificate from an institution in Ohio in the US, but that did not in any way affect his ministerial duties, indicating he did the course at his private time.

Mr. Amidu had stated on his CV that he did a course between 1999 and 2000 in an institution at Ohio at a time that he was the deputy AG and Minister of Justice.

A member of the Appointment Committee, Alhassan Suhuyini thus sought to find out from the nominee whether he used his time as deputy AG and Minister of Justice to pursue a course in the US.

““[I] wasn’t a student minister. I discharged my duties as Deputy Attorney General fully. If you go to the law report it will tell you that I distinguished myself for the NDC government creditably within that period,” he touted.

He explained that he did the course under distance learning, saying “At my spare time I used the computer to enriching myself. I’m not those who go to GIMPA while they hold office. I didn’t do that. I stayed in Ghana, used the distance learning at my spare time and fulfiled my ministerial duties to the letter.

He justified his decision to pursue the course primarily to enrich his knowledge “to fulfill my duties” to help the nation.

When asked if he visited the school during the distance learning period, he replied affirmatively, saying “I visited the school but it was upon permission from the government. I didn’t go on AWOL, never!”

He said he had approval for two weeks for the visit to the school.

He argued that the course he did was of interest to the government that is “why you have the Alternative Dispute Act from; that is how the judiciary came to deal with corporate resolution and to improve on it.

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