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Independent Prosecutor may stay in office for 7 years

The Office of a Special Prosecutor was a major campaign promise of Nana Akufo-Addo while he was the opposition candidate in the December 2016 elections.

Deputy Attorney General Joseph Dendiok Kpenka

He believes that the seven year tenure will enable the prosecutor have ample time to secure convictions for persons who are said to have misappropriated public funds.

While many have said the office would be a duplication of roles, because there are agencies such as Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice and the Economic and Organised Crime Office are responsible for investigating corruption, others have praised its implementation and called on the president to make it truly independent of political interference.

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After having won the elections, pressure is mounting on the government to appoint the prosecutor to begin prosecutions of past and present government officials who may have acted in a corrupt manner.

The government has since begun a stakeholder engagement that will lead to the appointment of the first independent prosecutor.

A proposed draft bill for the setting up of the office of the independent prosecutor was discussed Tuesday for stakeholders to make their inputs.

But many have also raised concerns about the security of tenure to be given the prosecutor if appointed.

The Deputy Attorney General Joseph Dendiok Kpenka believes the seven year tenure is ideal.

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“The very fundamental thing that we all looking at is the security of tenure of the special prosecutor. Unlike the Attorney and Minister of Justice who is hired and fired at the pleasure of the president, this will not be the case.

“The person is appointed for a period of seven years and within that seven years unless there is anything he has done contrary to what he is supposed to do, in which case processes such as the removal of a Superior Court of Justice will be triggered for the removal of the person of office, he cannot be hired and fired at the pleasure of the president.

“…With the issue of the security of tenure it will be a spectacular guarantee for the person to be able to perform his functions without any fear of removal or intimidation from any person,” he told Accra-based Joy FM.

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