Passing a Law to establish an Office of the Special Prosecutor was an act in futility – Speaker Bagbin
“As for the law you passed on the establishment of 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,”
Speaker of Ghana, the Rt Hon Alban Sumana Bagbin has reiterated his long held view that, the passage of the of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017, (Act 959) was an exercise in futility since it is not needed to fight corruption.
According to him the Attorney General is better placed to fight the menace of corruption, therefore, it is rather important for the Attorney General’s office to be funded well and separated from the minister for Justice to function well in the performance of its duties.
“As for the law you passed on the establishment of 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,” Mr Bagbin said.
He explained that the Minister of Justice is a political appointee whiles the Attorney General is a technical person who has the same rank in conditions of service to a minister of state.
Background
During the consideration stage of the “Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2022” on the floor of parliament on Tuesday December 12, 2023, chairman of the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs committee, Kwame Anyimadu-Antwi oposed a further proposed amendment for the abhorrence of marriage or sexual intercorse between a human being and an animal to be stated categorically in the new law.
He argued that Ghana abounds with several laws against unnatural carnal knowledge in all forms hence there is no need for such provsion in the new legislation.
South Dayi lawmaker, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor however disagreed with the chairman and pointed to the fact that despite existence of several laws against corruption in the country, the Office of the Special Prosecutor act categorically empowers the office with same tools and powers to fight corruption canker.
The submission by Mr Dafeamekpor propted the speaker to renew his long help opposition to the creation of the OSP.
It would be recalled that contributing to the Appointments Committee report on the floor of Parliament for the approval of Mr Martin Amidu as the first Special Prosecutor in 2018, Ghana’s longest serving parliamentarian, Mr Bagbin had these to say: “I from the onset did not see the need for such an office because I believe strongly that if the Attorney General was properly supported, they could have done the same thing. My understanding of the constitutional provision is that it doesn’t also debar the president from appointing a Minister of Justice and also appointing an Attorney General. That is my understanding of the constitution”.
Source: Christian Kpesese || eagleghana.com
