Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin says the creation of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) was an act in futility.
Speaking during the consideration of the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values bill 2021, the Speaker of Parliament stressed that the office will not achieve any results in the fight against corruption.
Speaker Bagbin insists the Attorney General’s department should rather be decoupled from the Ministry of Justice.
“As for the law you passed on the establishment of the Office of the Special Prosecutor, I did tell you that it was an act in futility, you were not going to achieve anything but you went ahead and passed it,” he said.
He added that to achieve results in the fight against the canker, the Attorney-General’s department must be well-funded to work on its own.
“I am very clear in my mind that that authority is embedded in the powers of the Attorney-General constitutionally… You separate the two – the Minister of Justice is a political appointee – the Attorney-General is a technical person,” he added.
The assertion by the Speaker follows similar sentiments expressed by the Minority in Parliament since the establishment of the Office.
Earlier, the group had alleged that the Office of the Special Prosecutor has not been able to successfully prosecute a single case of corruption for punishment.
Speaking to journalists, the Minority Chief Whip, Governs Agbodza, said the office was unnecessary in the face of numerous investigative bodies in the country.
“While some of us believe that that office was needless, because EOCO, CID and financial crime unit all those offices can combine and do a good job, the government insisted that the OSP will do more jobs. Are you aware that as we speak, they have not been able to successfully prosecute a single case, and anybody punished? So the question is how useful is that office? So we are saying that other people could have done the same thing,” he noted.
About the Office of the Special Prosecutor
The Office of the Special Prosecutor was established in 2018 as Ghana’s top independent anti-corruption institution, following the United Nations Convention Against Corruption.
It is expected to investigate and prosecute corruption cases in public and private sectors, recover proceeds, and prevent corruption.
The OSP is designed to address inadequacies in existing anti-corruption agencies and has powers derived from various laws.
However, the OSP has faced major roadblocks in the fight against corrupt practices as most of its court cases have not gone in its favour.
The Office has not successfully prosecuted a single case since it was set up. Its first head, Martin Amidu, resigned after accusing the government of stifling the office of the needed resources to function.
He also accused the government of not being committed to the fight, calling out the President, Nana Akufo-Addo as the major enabler of corruption.
