Funding the office of the Attorney-General and separating it from the Ministry of Justice, was the surest way of curbing corruption in the country, rather than establishing the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP).
Speaker Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, who made the comment over half a decade ago, has repeated that the passage of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017, (Act 959) by Parliament was an “act in futility” which will not yield the purpose for which it was created.
According to him, he disagreed with Parliament and warned that the Act should not be passed since it lacked the potential to curb corruption but he was ignored.
Speaking during the consideration of the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021, Tuesday, December 12, 2023, he said “as for the law you passed on the Special Prosecutor, I did tell you that it was an act in futility. You were not going to achieve anything from that but you went ahead to pass it.”
“I disagreed with you but I was alone,” the former Member of Parliament for Nadowli Kaleo said, adding that “I am very clear in mind that authority is embedded in the powers of the Attorney-General constitutionally.”
Anti-gay bill
During the consideration of the bill, the Chairman of the Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Kwame Anyimadu-Antwi, expressed his opposition to a further proposed amendment for the abhorrence of marriage or sexual intercourse between a human being and an animal to be stated categorically in the new bill.
He said Ghana had several laws against unnatural carnal knowledge in all forms, a reason there was no need for such provision in the new legislation.
However, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, disagreed with the Chairman.
He told the House that despite the existence of several laws against corruption in the country, the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act categorically empowers the office with the same tools and powers to fight the corruption canker.
This prompted the Speaker to voice out his long-held opposition to the creation of the OSP.
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