Former Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu has said Cecilia Dapaah’s case seriously demonstrates a clear failure of the executive branch of government and the authority conferred upon it under the Constitution that “extends to the execution and maintenance of this Constitution and all laws made under or continued in force by this Constitution.”
According to him the power to investigate and prosecute offences committed under the laws of Ghana is the prerogative of the executive branch vested in the President of the Republic.
“The fact that the Government and the public learnt for the first time simultaneously through the medium of the media that police prosecutors were prosecuting suspects for stealing various sums involving colossal amounts of US$1 million, €300,000, and millions of Ghana Cedis and assorted clothes valued at GH¢95,000, handbags, perfumes, and jewellery valued at US$95,000, six pieces of Kente cloth worth GH¢90,000 and six sets of men’s suits valued at US$3,000 the property of a Minister of State and her husband also exposes serious weakness in the security and intelligence apparatus of Ghana,” he stated in his latest epistle copied to Peacefmonline.com
“The fundamental issue in the Cecilia Dapaah case in my view is not the colossal amounts allegedly stolen from her residence but the security breach posed by employing unvetted persons who have access to the residences of Ministers of State and access to their bedrooms. The fact that the suspects unlawfully entered into the Minister and her husband’s living room in their absence over a period of time to be able to steal the properties involved must have been of prime interest to the Director-General CID for her to have officially informed the Inspector-General of Police in writing or by situation report (Sitrep) of the complaint by the Minister’s husband and her as soon as it was received in October 2022 as disclosed on the charge sheet in the Circuit Court where the case of stealing alone ended up for trial.”
“The Inspector-General of Police has a responsibility to inform the Minister for the Interior and the Minister for National Security of all serious cases involving security breaches at the residences of any Minister of State being investigated by the police to enable them to fulfill their coordinating function of briefing the President, the National Security Council, and the Cabinet during security briefings. The weekly or monthly security briefings under an efficiently run Government must reflect such important and serious security breaches of a Minister of State’s residence. The fact that weekly or monthly written security briefs may indicate which and when senior officials of the Republic have exited the country and when they returned underscore the fact that the personal safety and security of Ministers of State is an important matter for any investigator to report to his or her superior officer for purposes of security and intelligence briefs to the appropriate quarters,” Martin Amidu wrote.
Source: peacefmonline.com
