Martin Amidu, Ghana's first Special Prosecutor, has revisited events surrounding his controversial resignation, this time revealing explosive details about the alleged mismanagement of funds by the Office of the Special Prosecutor under his successor, Kissi Agyebeng.
Amidu alleged that a GHS60 million allocation he refused to spend in 2020 was squandered by the current leadership of the OSP without accountability. "Ken Ofori-Atta blamed me in anger when I resigned as the Special Prosecutor for refusing to spend Sixty Million Ghana Cedis from the OSP's 2019 budget," Amidu wrote in open letter available to MyNewsGH. "That money was specifically transferred into the OSP's Special Operations Account at the Bank of Ghana in the first quarter of 2020 after the close of the 2019 budget year." According to Amidu, the funds were earmarked to convert the ten-storey building he secured for the OSP into a functioning office through sole sourcing the original contractor.
However, he said he stepped down rather than succumb to what he deemed improper financial conduct. "The understanding was to sole source the original contractor to convert the OSP's ten-storey building into habitable office accommodation," he said. "The OSP under Kissi Agyebeng as usual dissipated the Sixty Million Ghana Cedis without anything to show for it." Amidu accused the OSP of continuing the pattern of waste across four subsequent budget years - 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 - all under the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government, with no meaningful anti-corruption results to justify the expenditure.
He said the sudden interest in prosecuting Ken Ofori-Atta only emerged after the 2024 election loss of the NPP, suggesting that the OSP avoided action while Ofori-Atta held financial control. "The OSP made no attempt to investigate the offences it now claims to be investigating all this while, just so that they could continue receiving fat budgets," Amidu stated. "This was anti-corruption entrepreneurship and not fighting corruption." Amidu further challenged the Special Prosecutor's media posture, criticizing the recent public announcement of Ofori-Atta's potential extradition.
