A member of the Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) committee, Martin Kpebu has made a strong case for changes in the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) law insisting the law in its current form “is not fit for purpose” and needs urgent amendment.
Per its mandate, the OSP is tasked with investigating and prosecuting specific cases of alleged or suspected corruption and corruption-related offences in the public and private sectors, recovering the proceeds of such acts by confiscating unlawfully acquired assets and unexplained wealth, and implementing measures to prevent corruption.
However, in an interview with Umaru Sanda Amadu on Eyewitness News on Monday, February 10, after the submission of the ORAL report to the President, Martin Kpebu said the ORAL team’s work gave him insight into the huge defects of the OSP law.
He emphasized that, unlike the ORAL initiative, which he described as a “masterstroke,” the OSP law has systemic deficiencies that must be addressed.
“I always say that, you know how I don’t hesitate to criticize JM if he has done something that is not good. Yea, but this one is a masterstroke. I went on the ground and the tapes and the cues they gave us it has opened my eyes. I saw how President Akufo-Addo tried to masquerade OSP, rendered it virtually non-functioning, will not resource it well, blah blah blah…People opened my eyes so I have seen the deficiencies in the OSP law. It gives the Special Prosecutor too much power.
“Every petition lands on his desk, so he alone decides whether this case should be investigated or not. The rest of his directors don’t see. So that’s one of the key things we will be asking President JM to have the OSP law amended, so that when petitions come, the directors all of them should see and decide.
“Today if you take a petition to OSP, it goes from the reception straight to the Special Prosecutor’s desk, that is it. So if doesn’t want to investigate it, that is the end.
“He has absolute control, the rest won’t see. It is a huge blot on the law. Is it any wonder that it has not yield as much results as we want.
“Usually Heads of the institutions does not have all the knowledge in this world. So how do you make a law and give everything to him. No!”
