Sam Okudzeto backs calls to abolish OSP, questions its effectiveness

It hasn’t achieved its purpose because corruption persists. I see it every day. Everywhere you turn, in every institution, it is evident. People are not even afraid anymore. You go there, and they demand money from you to do what you have already paid for.

I’m saying that that institution is not achieving its purpose. Look at it this way: you have an Attorney General’s Department with both civil and prosecutorial sections. The prosecutorial section, headed by the Director of Public Prosecutions, is meant to handle criminal offences, including corruption. Corruption is no different from any other crime. So why create another institution to perform the same function?

In other countries, a special prosecutor addresses a specific problem that has arisen. You don’t build an entire institution around it, as we have done in Ghana. If you search, you will see that we are unique in this approach.

The Prime Minister of England, for instance, was once a Director of Public Prosecutions. Justice D. F. Annan, who became Speaker of Parliament, also held that position.

I suspect that someone thought corruption was too rampant in the country, so creating an institution around an individual seemed like a good idea. But it’s just an individual you’ve appointed. Then you try to build an institution around that person. What is the background of that individual? That’s the question I ask.