Sam Okudzeto questions relevance of Special Prosecutor’s office

Veteran legal practitioner and former President of the Ghana Bar Association, Sam Okudzeto, has cast doubt on the continued necessity of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), arguing that the institution has not fulfilled its mandate and merely duplicates the work of existing state agencies.

His remarks come at a time when public discourse is intensifying over whether the anti-corruption body should continue to operate in its current form.

The debate gained fresh momentum after the Majority Caucus in Parliament raised concerns that the OSP consumes large amounts of public funds without delivering commensurate results. Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga has even proposed that the office be dissolved, with its functions reassigned to the Attorney-General’s Department.

Speaking in an interview on Joy News on Monday, December 8, Mr Okudzeto said the critical test for any public institution is whether it is achieving the purpose for which it was established.

“When institutions are created, the real question should always be whether they are delivering on the reason they were set up in the first place,” he said. “In the case of the OSP, we must honestly ask ourselves: has it lived up to expectations?”

According to the senior lawyer, his assessment is that the office has fallen short of its mandate, particularly in the fight against corruption.

“I don’t think it has achieved its purpose,” he said. “Corruption is still rampant. You see it everywhere—in every institution. It has become so open that people are no longer even afraid. You go to an office, and after paying what you are supposed to pay, they still demand extra money.”

Mr Okudzeto further argued that the OSP’s existence creates an unnecessary overlap with the Attorney-General’s Department, which already has full constitutional authority to prosecute criminal offences.

“We already have an Attorney-General’s Department with a prosecutorial wing headed by the Director of Public Prosecutions,” he explained. “That office is mandated to prosecute all crimes, including corruption. Corruption is not a special offence different from other crimes.”

He, therefore, questioned the justification for maintaining a separate institution to perform essentially the same functions.

“So why create another body just to do what the Attorney-General is already empowered to do? That is the central issue,” he said, insisting that calls to scrap the OSP should not be considered unreasonable under the circumstances.