The day you lose faith in the OSP is the day this country dies – Kissi Agyebeng

The Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, has urged Ghanaians not to lose faith in his office, the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP).

Speaking to journalists at a press briefing in Accra, the Special Prosecutor explained that his office is currently facing challenges prosecuting cases because of the law establishing the OSP.

He indicated that the day Ghanaians lose faith in the OSP and its efforts at fighting corruption would be the death of the country.

He added that the OSP has to provide updates on its investigations within six months, which is currently one of the major challenges it is facing.

“The day you lose faith in this office is the day the soul of this country dies. See, the repetition you see, is merely as a result of the period within which the law requires the office to report - six months.

“See, even when you are prosecuting a matter in court, six months by the recordings, like a day, you get it. If the law had required us to periodic report, let's say two years, three years, you wouldn't see this level of repetition,” he explained.

Kissi Agyebeng added that despite challenges, his office has made several significant strides in the fight against corruption.

“But what is so bad about repetition? Especially when the matter is still pending and the matter is not yet resolved. And you would see that although much of it looks like repetition, there's always a slight update in respect of the cases. Some are moved up in respect of the level at which the office has gotten to and whether the office is going to take further action,” he said.

He made these remarks while addressing concerns about his office not being able to prosecute the former Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Dapaah, whom it accused of corruption and corruption-related offences after two of her house helps reportedly stole $1 million and €300,000 in cash, and other valuable items from their residence at Abelemkpe.

GhanaWeb analysis:

The Office of the Special Prosecutor was established by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in 2018 to lead Ghana’s effort in the fight against corruption in public office.

Kissi Agyebeng is the second person to lead the OSP, having replaced the first Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, in 2021.

Despite the establishment of the office, Ghana’s performance on the Corruption Percent Index (CPI) by Transparency International has been worsening.

In fact, the index has showed that since 2019, no improvement has been made in Ghana’s fight against corruption, with the country scoring 43 out of 100 for four consecutive years.

And it must be placed on record that since the OSP was established, it has not produced any meaningful result or outcome from any of its investigations on issues of corruption.

This fact, besides the many explanations of the office, cannot be overlooked.

In fairness, should the OSP not have only been making such sentimental comments if it has, since 2018, concluded at least one major case, and even gotten the accused prosecuted?

Watch Kissi Agyebeng’s remarks in the video below:



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