Communications team member of the National Democratic Congress, Lawyer Hamza S. Suhuyini, has questioned the foundation of the Office of the Special Prosecutor, arguing that former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo deliberately created the institution to serve political objectives rather than national interest.
According to him, he in support of the recent calls to dissolve the OSP.
He said this while speaking on Joy News and monitored by NewsDesksGH on November 27 about the recent public discussion sparked by a petition led by private legal practitioner Martin Kpebu and others, calling for the removal of the Special Prosecutor and a reconsideration of the relevance of the office.
“I give you the historical evolution of the office of special prosecutor and the fact that indeed it was a campaign promise of nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo intended for political objectives.“
Referring to the tenure of the first Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu, he recalled comments made by Martin Amidu.
“Subsequently when the office was formed the first special prosecutor had cause to refer to Akufo-Addo himself as the mother serpent of corruption when he attempted influencing and directing the work,” he said.
He also cited Amidu’s public complaints about funding challenges.
“He addressed a press conference to tell the entire nation of how state agencies and ministry of finance in particular made it practically impossible for him to carry out his mandate because of the issue of funds.”
“Even Martin Amidu had cause to complain about how deliberately Government was trying to frustrate the office by holding off certain funds from getting to them,” he added.
Mr. Suhuyini argued that these issues showed the office was never designed with genuine national interest at heart.
“So from the word go, the setting up of the office was not nationalistic and objective, it was political and parochial.”
“The proponents of that idea, when they realized it wasn’t serving those political objectives they decided to deny the office the needed independence to be able to work.”
He added that the current Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng’s own statements confirmed ongoing interference.
“Even when it came to the investigations against Ken Ofori Ataa, the presidency practically made it impossible because that was the presidents cousin. Compromising the whole idea of independence we had anticipated that it would have,” he said.
After 5 years of this, he said the country must now reconsider the relevance of the institution.
“So it’s only reasonable for us to begin to ask ourselves whether indeed that particular office is something we must truly continue to fund or the time has come for us to take it away.”
“Whatever the special prosecutor is mandated to do, there are so many institutions that can actually carry out that particular responsibility,” he added.
He argued that the Attorney General’s office remains the best suited as the authority of prosecutions resides in its office.
“I agree in principle with Martin Kpebu’s petition.”
