Veteran lawyer and former President of the Ghana Bar Association, Sam Okudzeto, has questioned the continued relevance of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), arguing that the institution has failed to achieve its core purpose and suffers from a duplication of roles.
His comments come amid renewed public debate over whether the OSP should continue to exist.
The discussion intensified after the Majority in Parliament claimed that the office receives substantial budgetary allocations yet has little to show for it.
Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga has even suggested that the OSP be scrapped and its authority transferred to the Attorney General.
Speaking on Joy News on Monday, December 8, Mr Okudzeto said the key issue is whether the OSP has met the purpose for which it was created.
“Sometimes someone says it is not what you think you are entitled to, but it is what you can give. But it should be. So you’re asking me this question. The question is simply this: why was the institution set up? Has it achieved its purpose?” he said.
He argued that the answer is no, pointing to what he described as rampant corruption that the OSP has failed to curb.
“I don’t think so. That is exactly the issue that I’m trying to drive here. He hasn’t achieved his purpose because the corruption is still on. I see it every day. Everywhere you turn in every institution, you see it openly. They are not even afraid. You go there, and they demand money from you when you’ve already paid,” he stressed.
Mr Okudzeto maintained that scrapping the OSP would not be out of place, insisting the fundamental problem is the duplication of responsibilities that already fall under the Attorney General’s Department.
“You have an Attorney General’s Department. In that department, they have a civil section and a prosecutorial section. The prosecutorial section is headed by the Director of Public Prosecutions. What is the DPP supposed to do?
“He is supposed to prosecute criminal offences, including corruption. There is nothing that makes corruption any different from any other crime. So why create another institution to do the same job? That’s the whole issue,” he said.
