Haruna Iddrisu, Minority leader in Parliament
Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, has suggested that the report by the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee on the Annual Budget Estimates for the Office of the Special Prosecutor be set aside for further investigations.
He, therefore, called on the Speaker, Alban Bagbin, to step down the report.
Objecting to the laying of the report on the floor of Parliament, Thursday, 15 December 2022, the Minority leader, referring to Page 9, Paragraph 2 of the Committee Report, said: “Beyond the appointment of the Special Prosecutor, there are matters which remain unresolved with their conditions of service, that affect item 1 the compensation budget of the Office of the Special Prosecutor. So what are we approving, Mr Speaker, when you have the Ministry of Finance confirm.
“We are further told by the ranking member and I believe the chairman that the Special Prosecutor has not been paid for 15 months. Mr Speaker, how can this happen, you see so, how do you expect him to survive. Are you not encouraging him to live on some allowances, which allowances may be unacceptable allowances, if he is not paid legitimately what he is due?”
He alluded another reason for wanting the report to be set aside for further work by the committee with the office of the SP.
He asserted that after the current Special Prosecutor assumed office, some officers were asked to proceed home.
“And then he [Special Prosecutor], appointed some persons into the office of the Special Prosecutor, to facilitate his work as Special Prosecutor. Mr Speaker, we’re told that at the time that the office of Special Prosecutor, made those appointments, there was no board so properly constituted under Act 959, which allows for the composition of a board, and the determination, Mr Speaker of a matter which is for the board.
“It’s for the board to determine matters including appointments so is it for the Special Prosecutor to appoint persons, or he’s to do so, in consultation or working with his board. This has also come up. So Mr Speaker, we should set aside this report so that the committee will go back and investigate these matters better.”
He accused the SP of issuing appointment letters without a board in place.
“I’m right to assume that any appointment undertaken by the Special Prosecutor must be deemed illegal and unconstitutional because it is not in tandem with the provisions of section 21 of the Act.”
“Until we resolve these matters, I do not think we should go further in approving the budget for the office of the Special Prosecutor,” the minority leader stressed.
“Any appointment other than those done by the President be deemed illegal and unconstitutional and, therefore, Parliament cannot be appropriating compensation for those illegal and unconstitutional appointments,” Mr Iddrisu added.
