Former President and Presidential candidate of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) Mr. John Dramani Mahama has revealed that his next government will not collapse the Office of the Special Prosecutor (SP).
“The NDC government will maintain the office of the Special Prosecutor because it was established by an act of parliament”. Former President John Dramani Mahama said this in an interview with Asempa FM.
Parliament in November 2017 took a giant step towards the fight against corruption and passed a law which established the Office of Special Prosecutor.
The establishment of the Office of a Special Prosecutor was one of the key campaign promises of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo earlier indicated that the establishment of an effective and operationally independent Special Prosecutor would effectively contribute to ongoing efforts at combating corruption.
The office as established is also expected to help reduce the workload on existing investigative agencies and thereby enhance their effectiveness.
Per Clause 3(4) of the Bill, only corruption cases involving vast quantity of assets which threaten the political stability or sustainable development of the country are to be handled by the Office.
However, after the establishment of the office, Ghanaians and some political analysts including key members of the NDC have criticised the office for not doing enough on the fight against corruption as they were made to understand.
Meanwhile the NDC in it manifesto dubbed ‘the people’s manifesto’ has also said it would launch “Operation Sting”, another campaign promise to fight corruption.
However, speaking in an interview with Asempa FM Monday, Mr. Mahama indicated that he is going to maintain the Office of the Special Prosecutor (SP) in his next government when he is voted for.
It is unclear if the Special Prosecutor Mr. Martin Amidu would still be in the office should the NDC win the up-coming elections.
Mr. John Mahama also promised that he will make sure the office works independently from his government because he thinks the Nana Addo led government had stabbed Mr. Amidu in the back.
