Correspondence between the Special Prosecutor’s office and the Chief Director at the Office of the President sighted by Asaase Radio indicates that government adequately resourced the Office of the Special Prosecutor, including the successful securing of a nine-floor Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) building at Ridge, to house the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP).
Among the documents sighted, a memo from the Chief Director at Jubilee House addressed to the Chief of Staff, dated 18 August 2020, detailed efforts the government has made to provide a decent accommodation for the Office of the Special Prosecutor, as well as, authorization to recruit staff for the office.
The Chief Director at Jubilee House, H.M. Wood, noted that his office has had several engagements with the Special Prosecutor since the office was created aimed at ensuring that the OSP is supplied with all it needs to make its work smooth. According to him, on 17 September, 2018, a meeting was held at the office of the Chief of Staff, Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, during which the challenges confronting the office of the Special Prosecutor were discussed in the presence of Amidu.
“The meeting agreed that the Chief of Staff would assist to resolve the urgent issues militating against the take-off of the Office of the Special Prosecutor, and a committee was set up to identify a suitable building to be used as office of the Special Prosecutor,” the Memo stated.
According to the Chief Director, the committee, together with the Deputy Chief of Staff, started the search the next day and identified a cluster of buildings consisting of one two-storey building and two single-storey buildings opposite the Bank Hospital at Cantonments. Wood stated that the committee, together with the Deputy Chief of Staff, the Special Prosecutor, and Secretary to the Special Prosecutor, along with some staff of the Ministry of Works and Housing, inspected the buildings on 20 September 2018, and after the inspection, the Special Prosecutor expressed the desire to use the premises as his office.
Building preference
However, the chief director indicated again that on 4 October 2018, the Special Prosecutor, through a phone call to him, stated that he had identified a building belonging to the defunct Ghana National Trading Company (GNTC) close to the British High Commission at Ringway Estates, and indicated his preference for that building instead of the cluster of buildings at Cantonments.
In response to the development, the Chief Director’s Memo noted that “the Chief of Staff, in a letter dated October 4, 2018, instructed the Ministry of Trade and Industry to release the building, which was done in a letter dated October 5, 2018. In order to secure the property, he said the Office of the President erected a fence wall around the building to ward off encroachers while due process was initiated to award the contract for the renovation of the building”.
However, while the renovation of the GNTC building was ongoing, the Special Prosecutor halted the process and requested that a 10-storey office building at Ridge belonging to GETFund be renovated for him for occupation, and this was also obliged.
Following a meeting between the Deputy Chief of Staff and the Special Prosecutor, GETFund, on 2 April 2019, at the Office of the President, which discussed the roadmap for the renovation of the building, a team of representatives from Consar Limited and Evans Anfom and Associates met on 3 April 2019 to conduct a joint inventory and inspection of the facility. Wood noted that during the inspection, some defects were identified and documented for repair works. Subsequently, he said, the Special Prosecutor generated his own list of defects in an eight-page report, which the contractors accepted, compared and merged to have a comprehensive work schedule.
The chief director’s memo further stated that on 14 May 2020, Consar completed the remedial works on the building and the project was inspected by GETFund and duly certified as ready to be handed over to the Office of Special Prosecutor. On 10 July 2020, the Office of the Special Prosecutor wrote to inform his office that its 2020 procurement plan had been approved and that the award of a sole source contract for the 10-storey GETFund building into a suitable office accommodation and divisions of the office was part of the approved plan.
Commitment was never in doubt
The chief director insists that the numerous engagements with Amidu on several matters, including recruitment of officers and procurement of office equipment to enable the OPS discharge its mandate, are proof that the commitment of his office towards the President’s cause to set up a working OSP was never in doubt.
On the issue of salaries, Wood explained that it is the responsibility of the OSP to set up its own management unit to manage budget for compensation and payroll activities of its employees since the OSP is an autonomous entity.
According to him, his office has no direct obligations to be involved in salary matters unless the OSP seeks the assistance of advice from his office in that regard. He noted that when it came to the notice of the Human Resources Management Directorate of his office that the Special Prosecutor and his Deputy had accepted their appointments, they quickly contacted the Controller and Accountant General’s staff at the OSP to discuss with the Special Prosecutor the processes for payment of the salaries of the two officers.
Read the various memos from the Office of the President and the Office of the Special Prosecutor below:
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