'Dreaded' Special Prosecutor to be named after May – Mustapha Hamid

President Nana Akufo-Addo is expected to name the much anticipated Special Prosecutor some time after May 2017, Minister of Information, Mustapha Abdul Hamid has revealed.

He disclosed in an interview with Bola Ray on Starr Chat on Starr FM Wednesday, the government will lay a Bill in Parliament when the House reconvenes in May to be passed into law that will establish the Office of the Special Prosecutor.

The NPP in its 2016 manifesto Chapter 12, page 135, titled ‘Governance, Corruption and Public Accountability,’ promised to “establish, by an Act of Parliament, an Office of the Special Prosecutor.”

The party has indicated that the office would be “independent of the Executive, investigate and prosecute certain categories of cases and allegations of corrupton and other criminal wrongdoing, including those involving alleged violations of the Public Procurement Act and cases implicating political officeholders and politicians.”

Then newly elected President, Nana Akufo Addo on December 12, in an interview with BBC said his government would fight the menace of corruption which has bediviled the country.

“We have decided that we want to take the politics out of it [the fight against corruption], so that the screams of witch-hunting and others will not arise, by establishing an office of a special prosecutor or somebody who will be independent of the executive and whose remit will be to investigate and tackle issues of corruption.”

A section of the public especially some members of the opposition NDC have expressed apprehension with some asserting the office would be used to witch-hunt former government officials under the esrtwhile Mahama administration.

However, President Akufo-Addo has insisted that the office of the Prosecutor would be used to fight the menace of corruption.