Special Prosecutor is a big joke - Mahama's Advisor on Corruption

Former Presidential Advisor on Governance and Corruption Daniel Batidam, has described the Nana Akufo-Addo led government to

According to him, Nana Addo's initial priority to deal with corruption is not necessary to fight corruption in the country.

"…Stop the politics that is going on about a special or independent prosecutor. That thing is not going to fly. It’s a big joke. It’s a way of avoiding to tackle the problem," he said.

Daniel Batidam who doubles as the the Executive Director at African Parliamentarians Network Against Corruption (APNAC) said the President can fight corruption without the Office of the Special Prosecutor.

He said "It is as simple as Nana Akufo-Addo’s Attorney General, if he or she has the evidence, to proceed to court and begin prosecution. In any case, if anyone tells me that the president wants to make sure he gets an independent person to do prosecution, he can easily find the independent person, appoint the fellow as Attorney General and the fellow will get to work.

"The issues that the president wants to tackle, he is tackling them. Is he not fighting galamsey? Have they set up an office to fight galamsey? Is the president not implementing free education? Did they set up an office to implement free education? If the president wants to fight corruption, he can fight corruption and I’m telling you that if corruption means allegations of corruption as we know them, then very soon all of us will get to know that there are as many allegations of corruption now as there have been in the past."

The Office of the Special Prosecutor, according to the government, will deal with issues of corruption, especially among state officials.

Under the Bill, an independent prosecutor will head the office and prosecute corruption offences by state officers.

It was one of the major promises made by President Nana Akufo-Addo as part of his plans to deal with corruption in government.

The bill is currently at the consideration stage in Parliament.

The NDC has previously stated that the yet-to-be-appointed prosecutor will witch-hunt members of the party.

This, according to them is because the anti-graft body will not have the needed independence to fight corruption as is being touted by the NPP government.

But it seems these worries have been dealt with by the party.