• Feb 19, 2024
• None

We Must Not Kill the OSP

Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng,  has called upon Ghanaians to rally in defence of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) against those seeking to dismantle it. He noted that the OSP is too young and must be given room to grow.

 

Mr. Agyebeng made this appeal during his presentation on the efforts and challenges of a state agency in combating corruption in Accra. The event, titled "New Frontiers in Governance, State Capture, and Corruption Worldwide and its implications for Ghana and Africa," was organized by the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD) in collaboration with the University of Ghana Business School.

 

Addressing concerns about calls to dissolve the Office, Mr. Agyebeng noted that such suggestions often lack a genuine assessment of its performance and are driven by the inherent challenges faced by any new establishment.

 

Yet, it bears reflecting that the creation and establishment of every institution come with the like circumstances of the pangs of childbirth and the raw emotion and anxiety of raising a child. These are natural. And the ordinary circumstances of mankind dictate that we must dutifully care for and nurture this six (6) year old child and not kill it. With forbearance, let us mark her growth and development. Condemnation at this stage is wholly unwholesome". 

 

He further noted that an objective evaluation of the attempts to unfairly and unjustly discredit the Office and its principal officers and the resistance and pushback against its operations suggests evidence of the negativity associated with the human condition – borne of the sense of self-preservation. That is to say – these attempts are merely a reaction against the Office and its officers depending on whether a person and his associates are at the short end of an investigation carried out by the Office.

 

Mr. Agyebeng urged Ghanaians to exhibit patience and tolerance in observing the early stages of the Office's progress and development.

 

The Special Prosecutor also questioned the commitment of Ghanaians to fight corruption, emphasizing that a society's disdain for corruption is essential for its eradication.

 

Though the nation collectively acknowledges that we must fight corruption, there is a notion that the flagship agency designed… is not needed and should be disbanded, while others actively undermine it and its principal officers… It is as though we do not know what we want. The situation in Ghana now is such that we must fight corruption, but we must not fight it, the Special Prosecutor stated.

 

Other speakers at the event included Professor of Economics: President Emeritus NRG and Senior FellowR4D and Brookings Institution, Daniel Kaufmann, Executive Director of EOCO, COP Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah, President of mPedigree Network and Honorary Vice President at IMANI Africa, Bright Simons and Dean of the University of Ghana Business School, Prof. Justice N. Bawole.