Agyebeng qualified to replace Amidu but has no anti-corruption credentials - MFWA boss

Lawyer Kissi Agyebeng, the Attorney General's nominee for the vacant post of Special Prosecutor may be qualified to occupy the seat vacated by Martin Amidu but he has little or no credentials in the anti-corruption space.

This is the view advanced by Sulemana Braimah, Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa, MFWA.

GhanaWeb monitored comments he made on the May 1, 2021, edition of Joy News' news analysis program, News File, as panellists discussed the nomination.

“What is the track record of Kissi Agyebeng when it comes to anti-corruption and fighting corruption? Do we have any knowledge, any experience of Mr Kissi Agyebeng being in the trenches of the anti-corruption struggles in this country and my answer will be no.”

According to Braimah, probing the nominee's track record in the area of the corruption fight, however, should not distract from his being qualified to hold that office.

“In terms of the word qualification, I won’t take that away from him but we have to look at whether or not his track record in the anti-corruption struggle merits him such position,” he stated.

Asked whether Agyebeng, by virtue of being a lawyer for investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas, could be said to have actively participated in some anti-corruption work, Braimah said others could also point out his role in the Smartty's bus branding scandal under the Mahama administration as having cancelled out his work with Anas.

“In relation to the Anas scenario you cite, people have also said well he was a lawyer for Smartty’s, and Smartty’s was the firm that was involved in the bus branding scandal so in that context, you can say well in one breath he was fighting for a journalist who was doing anti-corruption work but we are also having this situation where he was defending someone involved in one of the most scandalous acts in our 4th republic,” he stressed.

Agyebeng's nomination was made public last week via a letter from Attorney General Godfred Dame to the president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

The nomination is expected to be transmitted to Parliament for vetting and approval before the president formally swears the nominee into office.

The SP role was created under the Akufo-Addo-1 administration as an independent layer in the government's resolve to fight corruption.