Office of Special Prosecutor ‘not persecutorial agency’ – Akufo-Addo tells board

President Nana Akufo-Addo has sworn into office a nine-member governing board for the Office of the Special Prosecutor with a call on them to discharge their duties with seriousness and devoid of malice, ill-will or favour.

The President reminded the board that the Office of the Special Prosecutor, headed by former Attorney General Martin Amidu, was established to be a prosecutorial agency and not persecutorial agency.

He said with the “quality of the people assembled”, he is confident that the board will carry out its assignment “in all seriousness” and “without fear of favour, ill-will or malice”

His confidence, he explained, was borne out of the fact that the Office of the Special Prosecutor “is not established to be a prosecutorial agency; it is a prosecutorial agency and that, therefore, requires certain cardinal principles of rule of law”

Nana Akufo-Addo said with the swearing in of the governing board, the Office of the Special Prosecutor is “now… fully functional according to law”

Members of the board are:

Martin Amidu and her deputy Cynthia Lamptey

DCOP Maame Tiwaa Addo Danquah – Rep from the Ghana Police Service

Mr. Charles Nana Antwi – Rep from EOCO

Mrs. Linda Ofori Kwafo – Rep from Anti-Corruption/Civil Society Org

Mr Addae Wireko-Tawiah – Rep from the Audit Service

Mr. Kofi Boadu Boakye –Rep from the Financial Intelligence Centre

Mr. Charles Ayamadoo –Rep from CHRAJ

Mr Kwaku Domfeh –Rep from the Ministry of National Security.



The board, per the law, is among other things required to formulate policies necessary for the achievement of the objects of the Office and to ensure the proper and effective performance of the functions of the Office.

With the swearing in of the members, the board is required to meet and select a chairperson.

President Akufo-Addo administered the official oath and oath of secrecy to the members.

In his remark after the swearing in, Nana Akufo-Addo admitted processes establishing Office and making it functional has taken a little time indicated that is the way it should be.

He has meanwhile urged the board to work in a way that will guard the independence of the Office, noting “the fundamental purpose is to work to ensure the independence of this Office”.

“It is a new institution in the law enforcement architecture of our country but it is extremely important that the commitment that was made, that this will be an office independent of the executive, that is the charge I will require you to keep,” he told the board members.

“It is mandatory on you not only to guard the independence of the office but also to ensure the cooperation of the law enforcement agencies with the office of the special prosecutor,” he added.

President Akufo-Addo explained that by fostering that cooperation, the board members will not in any way be “endangering your own particular functions and responsibilities; you’re helping the office of the Special Prosecutor achieve the statutory ends that parliament of the people of Ghana are expecting of the office.”

He said the issue of corruption is one of the major issues of our national discourse, hence the Office that Ghana is sanitised of corruption.

“It is that pressure that has brought parliament to establish this Office by statute so the responsibilities is on you to ensure that the public life of our country is sanitized,” he said.