Martin Amidu, the former Special Prosecutor of Ghana has expressed how disappointed and shocked he is in the office of the President, for making it seems as if the portions of Al Jazeera’s documentary about President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo being named as a friend of a gold smuggler, were misleading.
As stated by the veteran lawyer and anti-corruption crusader, the contents of the April 25, 2023, letter penned under the name of Nana Bediatuo Asante, the executive secretary to the president, only show that they were shooting themselves in the foot.
For instance, Martin Amidu said in his latest epistle that the demands of the president’s office for Al Jazeera to apologise to Nana Akufo-Addo, are misdirected because the media outlet is not the one they should be demanding that from.
Martin Amidu also stated that he finds it difficult to understand how it is that the letter from the president’s office does not categorically deny Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s relationship with the Canadian smuggler, Alistair Mathias, who is one of the main characters of the Al Jazeera documentary, titled Gold Mafia.
“The alleged defamatory statements made against all the African Presidents, including the President of Ghana, were made by members of the Gold Mafia and their operatives who bear prime responsibility for those alleged defamatory statements. As I stated in my discourse dated 24 April 2023, I am yet to read a categorical denial that the President is not a good friend of Alistair Mathias or that he does not know Mr. Mathias and has never met him.
“Paul Adom-Otchere’s attempted Goebbels-like propaganda on behalf of the President, which roped in his protégée on the Supreme Court, leaves a lot of unanswered questions as to the friendship of the President with Mr. Mathias. That explains my characterization of the Paul Adom-Otchere’s propaganda on Metro TV Good Evening Ghana on 18 April 2023 as pernicious in the circumstances.”
Martin Amidu
He also claimed that Al Jazeera never said that the President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was a good friend of Alistair Mathias and that Mr. Mathias volunteered that information to the undercover investigators.
Martin Amidu further stated that he even finds it more worrying that President Akufo-Addo would want to question the principles used in the documentary, when he was the same person who, before becoming president, severally approved of the ‘Anas Principle.’
“The attempt by the Government to escape an investigation for suspected corruption arising from the confessions of Alistair Mathias, the President’s good friend, contained in the Al Jazeera Gold Mafia documentary through the side door of a purported threat of an action for defamation is arbitrary, lacks candor, and constitutes a blatant abuse of the powers of Government under the Constitution.
“It is too late in the day for the President to be allowed to run away from the consequences of his own endorsement of the ‘Anas Principle.’ What is good for the goose is good for the gander. Nana Addo is reaping what he sowed by championing the “Anas Principle”: “he must with exemplary dignity and integrity submit his Government to an anti- corruption investigation first. Patriotic Ghanaians, let all of us across political party divides, defend the 1992 Constitution by making our voices heard.”
Martin Amidu
Al Jazeera Responds To Akufo-Addo’s Letter
Al Jazeera Network claimed it has responded to the letter that was written to them by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, demanding an apology and retraction for a documentary in which it was stated that Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo acted as a lawyer for one Mr Alistair Mathias, a Canadian Gold smuggler and money launderer, and also benefited from an alleged $100million infrastructure contract awarded to Mathias.
This was after a journalist wrote to Al Jazeera, enquiring whether or not they received the letter from Ghana’s Presidency.
Al Jazeera in a response, stated: “We have responded to the letter from the president of the Republic of Ghana, correcting some parts of its content and clarifying various points.
“Prior to the publication of Gold Mafia, we wrote to the president outlining the claims made by Alistair Mathias. The president’s response appears near the end of the documentary.”
Al Jazeera
Portions of Al Jazeera’s original letter to the President to begin with, stated: “The documentary in question made baseless claims that the President acted as a lawyer for one Mr Alistair Mathias and implied that the president personally benefited unlawfully from an alleged $100million state infrastructure contract purportedly awarded to Mr Mathias. It is imperative that you act forthwith on this request within seven days from the date of receipt of this letter.”
In the final episode of Al Jazeera’s undercover investigation into Mathias’ gold smuggling and money-laundering activities across Africa, he boastfully claimed to have relationships with various presidents on the continent including President Akufo-Addo. He described Ghana’s President as a good friend and alleged that the President was his lawyer.
However, the President’s lawyer Kow Essuman also refuted attempts to link Mr Akufo-Addo to Alistair Mathias.
In a tweet on Sunday 16 April 2023, Essuman wrote that: “The President has not been in private practice since 2000, neither has the President nor his law firm, Akufo-Addo, Prempeh and Co. acted as a lawyer for this Alistair Mathias or Guldrest”. “The President does not know this Mathias or Guldrest. Ignore the spurious allegations”, he added.
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