'Clearly Problematic': What Kissi Agyebeng said about OSP law, powers during his vetting

The prosecutorial powers of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) are currently the major subject of public debate, following the stripping of the powers by a High Court in Accra.

On Wednesday, April 15, 2026, the court directed the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Dr Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, to take over all the cases being handled by the OSP until prosecutorial authorisation is granted.

The Deputy Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Justice Srem Sai, has also filed proposed arguments asking the Supreme Court to declare Section 4(2) of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959) unconstitutional and strike it down to the extent of its inconsistency with the Constitution.

Section 4(2) of the OSP Act states that “Subject to clause (4) of Article 88 of the Constitution, the Office shall, for the purposes of this Act, be authorised by the Attorney-General to initiate and conduct the prosecution of corruption and corruption-related offences.”

Article 88(4) of the Constitution states that “All offences prosecuted in the name of the Republic of Ghana shall be at the suit of the Attorney General or any other person authorised by him in accordance with any law.”

Another article of the Constitution, which also touches on this matter, is Article 88(3), which states that the Attorney General would be responsible for all criminal prosecutions in the country.

The public is divided on the matter, and even lawyers have divergent views on the law.

Well, Kissi Agyebeng himself spoke on the matter during his vetting by Parliament after his nomination in 2021 by the then President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to take on the role of Special Prosecutor.

During the vetting, the Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, now Majority Leader, Mahama Ayariga, asked him whether a mistake was made in the draft of the OSP law.

“Can you tell me what you think about Article 88(3), which states that the ‘Attorney General shall be responsible for the initiation and conduct of all prosecutions of criminal offences’, is that the clause that we ought to have been amending?” Mahama Ayariga asked Kissi Agyebeng.

The now Special Prosecutor, in his response, asserted that there was clearly an issue with the law that needs fixing.

“It is clearly problematic, constitutionally, and as I said, some of us expressed our views informally to the then Attorney General as to the constitutionality of the creation of the OSP, and Article 88(3), as you have identified, is the mother of this problem.

“And what Parliament has done is it tries to then marry this provision in Act 959 in a sort of side-wind fashion, 88(3) and 88(4), by just giving the Attorney General, whether he likes it or not, in that sense, if I may, be uptight to the OSP. So, to prevent this situation where the OSP will then be always going to the Attorney General to seek his or her authority to initiate and conduct proceedings. And that is why I said that it appears, then, when the draftsman saw the mischief that he hadn't really solved the mischief, he then, at the back, said, ‘Okay, when you finish, tell the Attorney General what you have done.’ There's still more work to be done,” he said.

He indicated that he was ready to work with Parliament to fix the issues with the law.

Watch a video of the Special Prosecutor’s remarks below:

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