Former Tamale Central Member of Parliament, Inusah Fuseini, has acknowledged the challenge of combating corruption in the country.
Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express, the former lawmaker called on Ghanaians to rally behind the Office of the Special Prosecutor in its mission to eradicate this pervasive menace.
Addressing the issue of no successful prosecution despite numerous investigations by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), Mr Fuseini, who was a Ranking Member of the Legal, Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs Committee, reflected on the initial expectations when the law was passed in 2018.
He noted “I did not think that when we were passing the law in 2018, we were thinking that within the spate of a year or two, the Special Prosecutor would lock up many people and retrieve a lot of stolen properties for us.”
However, he emphasized the necessity of sustained efforts.
“It requires a lot of hard work, And what we need to do is to support the Special Prosecutor. I’ve told you and I’m saying it again that the Office of the Special Prosecutor has now been weaponised. It has been weaponised by the office itself because we now know that there is a weapon to fight corruption,” remarked Inusah Fuseini.
He highlighted the importance of citizen engagement, stating that the Special Prosecutor’s office has become a potent tool for addressing allegations of illegal dealings by public officers.
Mr Fuseini cited recent calls for the reopening of the Airbus investigation as an example of the public recognising the office’s role in tackling corruption.
“So, clearly it is a weapon, and what we need to do is for us to support the special prosecutor,” he urged.
In recent times, the OSP has spoken openly about his frustrations accusing the courts of hampering his work.
The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has stated emphatically that the creation of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) was an act in futility.
Speaking during the consideration of the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values bill 2021, the Speaker of Parliament stressed that the office will not achieve any results in the fight against corruption.
Speaker Bagbin insisted that the Attorney General’s department should rather be decoupled from the Ministry of Justice.
“As for the law you passed on the establishment of the Office of the Special Prosecutor, I did tell you that it was an act in futility, you were not going to achieve anything but you went ahead and passed it,” he said.
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