Past ‘corrupt’ appointees ‘smelling’ jail as Special Prosecutor Bill is passed

Government has made do its promise of establishing the office of Independent Special Prosecutor to deal with corrupt practices in the public sector especially involving appointees of the immediate past administration whose acts of omissions and commissions caused financial loss to the state.

Parliament on Tuesday, November 14, 2017 passed the infamous Special Prosecutor’s Bill during an extended sitting ahead of the 2018 budget reading today.

In the run-up to the 2016 polls, then candidate Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo hinted of the establishment of the office of the Independent Special Prosecutor he said will be an Act of Parliament.

According to him it will be independent of the Executive, and possess “an exclusive remit to investigate and prosecute certain categories of cases and allegations of corruption, including those involving alleged violations of the Public Procurement Act and cases implicating political office holders and politicians.”

Prosecutions of such persons, he stressed, “will no longer be tainted by perceptions of witch-hunting and selective justice.”

He said this was among raft of measures to deal with “the toxic issue of corruption”, explaining that a successful Ghana can only be built on the basis of good governance, underpinned by efficient and honest public services. This requires that we succeed in eliminating corruption.

But after series of back and forth, the bill was finally passed after over 30 amendments were made to the bill which was laid before parliament awaiting presidential assent.