The Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, has defended his office against criticisms that he did not do much to prevent the departure of former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta from Ghana.
Kissi Agyebeng attributed their inability to prevent Ofori-Atta from departing the country to a lack of cooperation from state security agencies at the time.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has come under intense scrutiny for failing to prohibit the former minister from travelling to the United States despite ongoing investigations into award of controversial contracts his tenure.
Speaking in an interview on the KSM Show, Wednesday, November 5, 2025 Mr. Agyebeng said his office was hindered from executing its full authority to prevent Ofori-Atta’s exit from the Kotoka International Airport.
The Special Prosecutor also alluded to the former minister’s influence, pointing out his family’s ties to former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as reason for lack of cooperation from security agencies in prohibiting Ofori-Atta’s departure.
“He left between January 1 and 6. Who was in power during those few days and we don’t control the airports, the OSP doesn’t control the exit points but we are taking flaks everyday that why did we allow him to leave. Let’s face facts, his cousin was the President. Before John Dramani Mahama was sworn in on January 7, Nana Akufo-Addo was the President.
“We were not getting the cooperation at the time from other security agencies. We were not, we asked for all that but we were not. It was as if there was a policy of block the OSP out, that was what we were facing and that was the circumstances under which we were being expected to perform,” he narrated.
Mr. Agyebeng believes that “he security set up was stacked up against the OSP” to prevent it from doing its work.
“This was the situation in which we found ourselves and I am being asked how I let Ken Ofori-Atta leave. We did not watch him leave, we were powerless, that is the truth. We saw him leave but we couldn’t prevent him from leaving at the airport,” he added.
He continued hat since then, the OSP’s working environment has changed and there is now more cooperation with organizations like National Security and the Ghana Immigration Service.
“Now, we can rely on Ghana Immigration Service to block someone. Now, we can rely on National Security, then and at the time he left, you call up Immigration and no one will even bother to respond to you. You write to Immigration and no one will even bother to respond to you. And I am saying this unabashedly, that was the situation we found ourselves,” he stressed.
