Samuel Awuku Okudzeto, a prominent lawyer and former President of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), has weighed in on the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP)’s performance.
The former GBA boss says the OSP has failed to meet its anti-corruption mandate, making little impact since its creation. His comments follow ongoing debates on the OSP’s constitutionality and whether it should be scrapped.
The legal practitioner believes the best thing to do is to assess whether the Office has lived up to its functions or otherwise.
“The question is simply this: why was the institution set up? Has it achieved its purpose?” he asked on JoyNews on Monday, December 8, 2025.
In response to a direct question on whether the OSP has been successful with regards to the purpose for which it was created, the astute lawyer said “I don’t think so. That is exactly the issue that I’m trying to drive here. He hasn’t achieved his purpose because the corruption is still on. I see it every day.”
He continued that although the Office was created to curb graft in the country, the situation has become worse as people now indulge in the act openly without any fear. For this, he noted, the OSP has failed.
“Everywhere you turn in every institution, you see it openly. They don’t even… they are not even afraid. People are no longer even afraid. You go there, and they demand money from you to do this for you, when you already paid.”
He further explained that the creation of the office in itself wasn’t necessary since the function it is performing is already being performed at the Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General. He believes the major problem with the OSP is duplication of roles.
“Yeah, I’m saying that that institution is not achieving its purpose. Because look at it this way, you have an attorney general’s department. Is that not correct? Yes, in that department, they have a civil section, and then they have a prosecutorial section.
“This one is headed by the Director of Public Prosecution. The other one is headed by the Solicitor General. Now, what is the director of all prosecution supposed to do? He’s supposed to prosecute criminal offences which will include corruption, corruption-related.
“There is nothing which makes corruption anymore different from any other crime. We have a director of public prosecution, that is his job. Why do you create another institution to do the same job? That’s the whole issue.”
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