Former Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu has staunchly refused a demand from the Speaker of Parliament’s office to retract his recent statements and issue an unreserved apology within seven days.
This response follows Speaker Alban Bagbin’s demand that Amidu withdraw his remarks and apologize. Bagbin warned that failure to comply would force him to take steps to protect his reputation.
The controversy stems from Amidu’s claim that Speaker Bagbin held a secret meeting with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in Dubai in 2021 before the rejection of the 2022 budget. The Speaker’s office denied this, asserting that no such meeting took place in Dubai or anywhere outside Ghana, calling Amidu’s allegations false and unfounded.
The Speaker’s office urged Ghanaians to dismiss these claims, labeling them as a calculated attempt to tarnish Bagbin’s reputation. The office demanded that Amidu retract his statements and issue an apology to both the Speaker and Parliament, with the same prominence as the original accusations. Amidu was given seven days to comply, failing which the Speaker promised to take necessary actions to clear his name.
In his latest response, Amidu dismissed the Speaker’s statement as insufficient to counter his publication dated May 26, 2024. He stood by his claims and refused to withdraw or apologize for his statements. Amidu accused Bagbin of misusing public funds for medical treatment in Dubai for conditions that could be managed in Ghana. He acknowledged a typographical error in his publication, clarifying that the intended year of the alleged meeting was 2022, not 2021. While he apologized to his readers for this mistake, he maintained that his question about the meeting was directed at Asiedu Nketiah and John Mahama, not Bagbin.
