Director of Strategy, Research, and Communication Division at the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), Samuel Appiah Darko, has reiterated that the Special Prosecutor, who heads the OSP, cannot be removed from office whimsically or without due cause and procedure.
He explained that the OSP is an independent agency accountable to Parliament and that its head, who serves a non-renewable term of seven years, can only be impeached by Parliament for stated offenses.
“The OSP is an independent agency accountable to Parliament. The head enjoys a 7-year non-renewable tenure. They may only be removed through impeachment based on stated offenses, similar to justices of the superior courts,” Mr. Appiah Darko, a lawyer and journalist, asserted.
It is unclear why the Director made comments about the independence of the OSP and the security of tenure of its head. However, the OSP’s Special Report on the Airbus Scandal has caused unrest within the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), sparking rumors of attempts to trigger the dismissal of Mr. Kissi Agyebeng, the Special Prosecutor.
In 2020, President Akufo-Addo referred the Airbus Scandal to the Special Prosecutor following Deferred Prosecution Agreements in the US, the UK, and France, which alleged that some individuals, including a Government Official (John Mahama) and an intermediary (Samuel Adam Forster), were implicated in alleged wrongdoing. However, the Special Report of the OSP on the Airbus Scandal exonerated former President John Mahama and his brother, Samuel Adam Forster, of any wrongdoing related to corruption and corruption-related offenses, much to the disappointment of some New Patriotic Party (NPP) stalwarts who had expected otherwise.
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