Convert OSP into Office of Attorney General — PPP

The Progressive People’s Party (PPP) has called for the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) to be converted in the Office of the Attorney-General (AG) to enhance the fight against corruption in the country.

It said until that was done, there was no way the OSP could effectively work to deal with issues of corruption.

The PPP made the call in a statement signed and issued by its National Secretary, Remy Paa Kow Edmundson, dated December 17, 2023, for the separation of the Minister of Justice from the AG and to convert the OSP to the Office of the AG.

“This new Attorney General's Office must have a budget built on the percentage of the National Budget.

Access to its funding must be enshrined in the constitution,” it said.

The party said it was in agreement with those echoing its long-held position of a total separation of the Minister of Justice from the AG, saying the AG must be for the people and the Minister of Justice as an advisor to the President.

Reasons

“Clearly, the powers of the OSP are unfortunately embedded in the Minister of Justice and Attorney General, as per the OSP (Act 2017), Act 959 that created the Office.

The OSP has been ceded some powers of the AG which is, in of itself, problematic,” it explained. 

“The OSP has been used to fulfil a propaganda campaign message just to deceive Ghanaians into believing something is being done about corruption,” it observed. 

The party said since 2012, it has championed the proposal for decoupling the Attorney General from the Minister of Justice as the only way to successfully win the fight against corruption, adding that the party has asked for the amendment of Article 88 of the 1992 Constitution.

“The PPP holds the belief that within the context of the broader narrative, if given the power to govern in the 2024 general elections, within three months into the PPP Administration, Article 88 of the 1992 Constitution will be amended to separate the Attorney General from the Minister of Justice to enable the State successfully fight corruption head-on,” it said. 

Sympathy 

“As a party, we sympathise with the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng.

Competent as he is, he finds himself between a rock and a hard place. 

The Constitution says that to be President, one must be 40 years and above.

 Yet, a 43-year-old man is called a “small boy” and the information minister and his communication team sit silently on the fence as the office is bastardised and taken to the cleaners.

 We infer from the lack of defence to mean a state-sponsored bastardisation of the OSP,” it added.

“Martin Amidu to Kissi Agyabeng have all cried about the lack of funding to carry out their functions.

The control of the Executive on an institution set up to fight corruption, for which political appointees are often subject matters of investigations, is not a healthy system,” the PPP said.