Legal practitioner John Ndebugri says there was no need for President Akufo-Addo to establish the Office of the Special Prosecutor to fight corruption.
Speaking on Newsnight, he said that the Attorney General’s office is already mandated by law to deal with criminal offenses including issues the Special Prosecutor is tasked with.
He stated that the office is not only “redundant” but an establishment that places a burden on the taxpayer.
“If people are found to be corrupt or to be engaging in corruption-related activities, there’s sufficient office to deal with that. The constitution has mandated the Attorney-General to be the sole prosecutor for all criminal offenses in the country.”
“It is a matter of marshaling the will and then the resilience to deal with people who commit these crimes, it is not about creating more and more offices. So, my position really from day one has been that the Office of Special Prosecutor is very redundant.”
Mr. Ndebugri said that the office has become another extension of bureaucracy that exists just to employ people.
“They will go there and be enjoying themselves and we the taxpayer will be sponsoring them,” he added.
His statements come after Legal Practitioner and Chairman of the Electronic Communications Tribunal, Kissi Agyebeng, was nominated to replace Martin Amidu as the next Special Prosecutor by the Attorney-General.
The President is, however, yet to make a formal declaration of his nomination to the Special Prosecutor’s Office.
However, Mr. Ndebugri said it is worrying that even before his approval, Mr. Kissi Agyebeng has been cited to face some conflict of interest provisions.
He stated that prior to Martin Amidu’s appointment, the citizen vigilante did not face these “negative attributes” his successor is facing and yet his relationship with the office did not end on a good note.
“That is why I am saying that all this business about Special Prosecutor is all politics and bureaucracy, just marshall the will to deal with people who engage themselves in corruption and the offices are already there. We don’t need to go and create another office to do that, the (Special Prosecutor) Office was created by law and it can be abolished by law.”
