Parliament rejected my idea to have people apply for the position of Special Prosecutor - Former MP

Former Member of Parliament for Tamale Central, Inusah Fuseini, has disclosed in an interview on Rainbow Radio's Frontline programme that his proposal to have the Special Prosecutor’s role selected through an application process was rejected.

The lawyer said he had proposed to Parliament to cause the Public Services Commission to publish an advert, accept applications, and select three qualified persons through interviews and then submit the three to the Attorney-General.

After this process, the A-G will nominate one person for the President’s consideration but that idea was shot down by the 7th Parliament.

Lawyer Fuseini said his colleague MPs voted this idea down adding, we are still making laws that give the President more powers to appoint.

He said when they were formulating the law, the original idea was to make it possible for any Ghanaian from anywhere in the country to apply for the role of SP.

He was reacting to the nomination of Kissi Agyebeng as the replacement for former SP Martin Amidu.

According to the former legislature, although Kissi Agyebeng is qualified to head the anti-graft office, he is too young to fight against corruption in the country.

Kissi Agyebeng has been nominated for consideration as SP.

Kissi Agyabeng who is currently the Chairman of the Electronic Communications Tribunal and widely known as Investigative Journalist Anas’ lawyer, has been nominated as Special Prosecutor following the resignation of Martin Amidu in November 2020.

Act 959, which establishes the Office of the Special Prosecutor, spells out three main objectives of the Office, namely: (i) investigate and prosecute alleged corruption or suspected corruption and corruption-related offences, (ii) recover the proceeds of corruption and corruption-related offences, and (iii) take steps to prevent corruption.

The functions entrusted to the Office are: (a) the investigation and prosecution of cases of alleged or suspected corruption and corruption-related offences under the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663);

(b) investigation and prosecution of cases of alleged corruption and corruption-related offences under the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29) involving public officers, politically exposed persons and persons in the private sector involved in the commission of the offence;

(c) investigation and prosecution of cases of alleged or suspected corruption and corruption-related offences involving public officers, politically exposed persons and persons in the private sector involved in the commission of the offence under any other relevant law;

(d) recover and manage the proceeds of corruption;

(e) disseminate information gathered in the course of investigation to competent authorities and other persons the Office considers appropriate in connection with the offences specified in paragraphs (a) and (b).

The Office of Special Prosecutor is to further: (f) co-operate and coordinate with competent authorities and other relevant local and international agencies in furtherance of the Act; and (g) receive and investigate complaints from a person on a matter that involves or may involve corruption and corruption-related offences.