Attorney General, Gloria Akuffo, has called for a dispassionate discussion on the Office of the Special Prosecutor Bill 2017, to enable the creation of a truly independent office to deal with public sector corruption.
The Bill is expected to among other things define modalities for the appointment and operations of the Special Prosecutor.
It is expected to be laid before parliament after it has gone through the consultative drafting stages among stakeholders. Speaking at a Chinese Embassy funded consultative forum on Tuesday, Gloria Akuffo was optimistic the Bill will be ready soon.
“It is our belief that the establishment of the office of the special prosecutor will be a major step towards strengthening the anti-corruption regime in this country and thereby substantially reduce the canker if not eliminate it.”
She explained that, as proposed in the draft Bill “the office of the special prosecutor will have the mandate to investigate and prosecute cases of alleged corruption under the Public Procurement Act 203 Act 63 and other corruption related offences implicating public officers, political office holders and their accomplices in the public sector as well as trace and recover the proceeds of corruption.”
“We believe that the establishment of a dedicated anti-corruption office vested with investigative, prosecutorial and asset recovery authority, will result in improved execution of our anti-corruption efforts rather than a continued reliance on multipurpose or mixed mandate agencies,” she added.
Special Prosecutor office will be operational in 6 months
The president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, had said earlier that the much hyped Special Prosecutor’s office will be functional within six months.
He noted that the office when operational will be independent of the Executive and other arms of government adding that “the office is going to be established by an act of Parliament and it will have the remit to investigate and prosecute corrupt officials.”
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