The Chairman of Parliament’s Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee, Shaibu Mahama, has described the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) as a populist creation of the Akufo-Addo government.
He made the comment while sharing his views on the ongoing legal battle between the OSP and the Attorney-General.
According to him, existing state institutions already had the mandate to perform the functions assigned to the OSP, making its establishment unnecessary.
“The creation of the OSP at the time was unnecessary and it did not have teeth to bite if ever it was passed. The OSP did not have legs to stand on. If it did at all, it did at the behest of the Attorney-General,” he stated.
He argued that without an amendment to Article 88(4) of the Constitution, the OSP cannot be granted independent prosecutorial powers under the current legal framework.
“Unless and until we amend Article 88(4), there is no way the OSP has any teeth to bite. This has been our argument from 2017 to date. I am not surprised these things have come up. It was a populist creation,” he said.
“Thankfully, we are doing the constitutional review now, and if anybody is minded to cede the prosecutorial powers of the Attorney-General to other institutions, this is the right time to do it,” he added.