President John Mahama has cautioned against calls to abolish the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), describing such demands as premature and insisting the institution remains a critical pillar of Ghana’s anti-corruption architecture.
Speaking during a courtesy call by the National Peace Council at the Jubilee House on Wednesday, December 10, the President stressed that the OSP is uniquely positioned as the only anti-corruption body in the country with full prosecutorial independence.
“I think it is premature to call for the closure of that office,” President Mahama said.
“The unique thing about the OSP is that it is the only anti-corruption agency with the power to prosecute cases on its own, without going through the Attorney-General.”
He explained that public mistrust of the Attorney-General’s Department because the Attorney-General is part of the sitting government—makes the independence of the OSP particularly important.
“People believe the Attorney-General will be very reluctant to prosecute his own,” he noted.
“But where there is an independent office like the OSP, it should not matter who is involved, because the office has security of tenure and the authority to act.”
While defending the relevance of the OSP, President Mahama urged the office to accelerate its investigations and prosecutions to restore public confidence.
“People want to see more prosecutions and tangible results. I would urge the OSP to speed up some of these cases and demonstrate that the office remains relevant,” he added.
The President’s remarks come in response to comments by Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga, who recently called for the abolition of the OSP, arguing that the institution has failed to deliver on its mandate nearly eight years after its establishment.
Addressing Parliament on Thursday, December 4, Mr Ayariga questioned both the constitutional foundation and the effectiveness of the OSP, insisting that Parliament should reconsider its decision to approve its creation. He argued that the attempt to align the office with constitutional provisions was flawed from the outset and maintained that the OSP has recorded no meaningful success in combating corruption.
During the same parliamentary sitting, Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin also expressed concern over the continued allocation of significant public funds to the OSP, describing the expenditure as unjustifiable given what he characterised as poor performance.
The Speaker noted that despite the initial public goodwill that greeted the establishment of the OSP, its output has not reflected the level of state resources invested in the office.
Calls for the scrapping of the OSP have also been supported by some prominent legal figures, including former Ghana Bar Association (GBA) President Sam Okudzeto, who has argued that the office has failed to achieve its purpose and has become a drain on state resources.
