President John Mahama on Wednesday said it was premature to scrap the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), pushing back against mounting political and legal calls to abolish the country’s flagship anti-corruption body.
Mahama told the National Peace Council during a courtesy call at the Jubilee House that the OSP remained central to Ghana’s anti-graft framework because it is the only institution with full prosecutorial independence.
He said public distrust in the Attorney-General’s office made the OSP’s independence even more critical.
“I think it’s premature to call for the closure of that office,” Mahama said. “The unique thing about that office is that it is the only anti-corruption agency that has prosecutorial powers to prosecute cases itself without going through the Attorney-General.”
“People believe the Attorney-General will be very reluctant to prosecute his own,” he noted.
“But if there is an independent office like the Office of the Special Prosecutor, it won’t matter who you are, because they have security of tenure and the prosecutorial authority to act.”
Mahama urged the OSP to fast-track its investigations and deliver tangible outcomes to rebuild confidence.
“People want to see more prosecutions and more results,” he said. “I will just urge the OSP to speed up some of these investigations and show that the office is still very relevant.”
Background
The President’s remarks come amid intensifying pressure from senior officials to dissolve the institution.
Last week, Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga told Parliament the OSP had failed to deliver meaningful results since its establishment eight years ago, arguing lawmakers should reconsider its constitutional footing.
He said attempts to design the office within Ghana’s constitutional framework were “flawed from the outset” and insisted the OSP “has not demonstrated any meaningful results in tackling corruption”.
At the same sitting, Speaker Alban Bagbin questioned the continued allocation of what he called “large budgetary resources” to the office, saying its performance had not justified the investment.
“Political agenda”
In a statement on Saturday, the Gomoa Central MP said claims that President John Dramani Mahama intends to dismantle the OSP are part of a “political agenda” aimed at framing the new administration as soft on corruption.
“It won’t happen,” he said, adding that the government seeks reforms and results, not the destruction of anti-graft bodies.
A Plus also rejected interpretations of the Speaker of Parliament’s recent remarks on the OSP. Alban Bagbin had questioned the sustainability of funding the office without “tangible results”.
Clarity
According to the MP, the Speaker did not call for the abolition of the institution but highlighted the need for accountability in its operations.
“The issue is performance, not existence,” A Plus said, arguing that dissatisfaction with the current Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, should not be used as justification to dissolve the entire office.
“If the problem is with the person, deal with the person,” he said.
He further dismissed criticisms that the OSP failed to prevent former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta from travelling out of the country during the previous administration.
The legislator further noted that the Special Prosecutor had no authority over immigration decisions and could not have overridden executive power.
He pointed to failed attempts by NPP MPs to pressure former President Nana Akufo-Addo to remove Ofori-Atta as evidence of the minister’s political influence.
Caution
A Plus cautioned members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) against shifting positions on the OSP depending on political convenience, recalling that the office was widely praised when it pursued high-profile figures in the former government.
He said the Mahama administration will retain and strengthen the Special Prosecutor’s office, adding that any decision to remove its current head would follow due process. “The office will remain and be fully empowered,” he said.
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