Member of Parliament for Manhyia South, Baffour Agyei Awuah has expressed serious doubts about the efficacy of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) even after it was established almost eight years ago.
Speaking in Parliament during the approval of budget and appropriation on Friday, March 28, 2025, he criticized the OSP for not obtaining convictions or making substantial financial recoveries over the years, even though the office has received millions of cedis in financing.
“It has been almost eight years since its establishment and there hasn’t been a single conviction by that office. By its own document it brought to the committee, the agency now has only three criminal cases pending, three cases after eight years.”
The Manhyia South MP who is a lawyer by training criticized the OSP for deviating from its core mandate. He argued that the OSP had begun handling matters outside its jurisdiction, such as stool lands, instead of focusing on protecting the public purse.
“When you look at the cases that it is involved, then you realize that there seems to be some aberration in its focus. When you go through what he presented to the committee, you hardly see much of its work focused on the work of the Auditor-General. What excites sentiments in this country is mostly the PAC hearing. When Ghanaians watch the hearing of the Public Accounts Committee and see the fallout, then they begin to crush in their bones. It may well seem that, that then is the lowest hanging fruit for the OSP. But when you go through this report, you will realize that he has completely turned his eyes from it. What then is he chasing? Stool lands and so on and so forth,” Baffour Agyei Awuah remarked.
