The Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, has disclosed that his outfit has a staff strength of 249, up from the zero staff it had when he took over in 2021.
In an exclusive interview with Bernard Avle on “The Point of View” on Citi TV on Monday, January 8, the OSP celebrated the gains the office has made so far in its fight against corruption and corruption-related matters.
He also disclosed that about 95 percent of the 249 staff are currently undergoing training to be imbued with the principles and finesse expected in the office’s execution of its mandate.
“From zero, we now stand at 249. When I took over, there was just one person on the payroll, and that was the Deputy Special Prosecutor, but we now have 249 staff, excluding the Special Prosecutor and the Deputy Special Prosecutor.
“About 95 percent of them [the staff] are undergoing training because we are performing very sensitive law enforcement and security functions, and a lot of people think we are a prosecutorial agency, but we are actually doing investigations. We actually go on the ground to perform operational activities, carry out arrests, seize currencies, and seize properties, so we are a law enforcement agency first and a prosecutorial agency.”
Despite praising and celebrating the successes achieved, Kissi Agyebeng also called for more to be done to empower the office.
“There is still a lot that needs to be done. We do not yet have an establishment budget. Everything has to be in place, but as it stands now, we are using what we get year-by-year.”