Special Prosecutor’s Bill hits snag in Parliament

The Parliamentary, Constitutional and Legal Committee of Parliament has rejected a request by government for the office of the Special Prosecutor’s Bill to be passed under a certificate of urgency.

The committee has therefore recommended the bill be taken through all the normal processes. The minority raised issues of constitutional breaches, stating the bill had not been gazetted when it was first laid on Tuesday.

Speaking Friday on the floor of parliament, the chairman of the committee Ben Abdallah said “going through the memorandum and the body of the bill itself, we realized that bill carries a lot of weighty issues that need to be discussed and that therefore need a broader stakeholder consultation and this cannot be done within a short period of time.

“It was therefore the considered opinion and view of the committee that in view of the reasons mentioned above this bill cannot be treated under a certificate of urgency.”

A former deputy Attorney General Dominic Ayine, who first raised issues with the process the bill was laid, feels vindicated. He told Starr News’ Parliamentary correspondent Ibrahim Alhassan the bill cannot be passed before the house rises in two weeks.

President Akufo-Addo while campaigning for the position in 2016, announced in a speech at the 16th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, at Abetifi, Kwahu, that an Akufo-Addo led government would create an office of a special public prosecutor to prosecute ‘certain’ corrupt cases in the public sector.

He said the office of the prosecutor would be created within six months in office if he won the election.

In fulfilment of the promise, the bill on the Office of Special Prosecutor was laid on Tuesday, as part of the strategies in fighting corruption among public officers in the country.