Special Prosecutor must be truly independent – Haruna Iddrisu

Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu has welcomed and applauded the establishment of a special prosecutor to lead independent investigations.

He is, however, calling for a truly independent individual with a reputation for integrity and impartial decision-making to be appointed to occupy the office. He warned the special prosecutor could be seen as witch-hunting political rivals if the person does not exercise the greatest possible level of impartiality as required by the law.

“The greatest threat to the success of the Special Prosecutor Act and the office of the special prosecutor remains political bias whether or not the person appointed to that office will exercise justice in a manner which is impartial, which is the requirement of the law. If it’s used as only an instrument to check the past and does not focus on present issues, it will become an instrument for witch hunting,” the MP for Tamale South said while addressing reporters at an event to connect the Dungubila community in his constituency to the national grid.

Mr. Iddrisu cautioned the special prosecutor will fail as an “independent watchdog to combat corruption” if he attempts to concentrate on probing only alleged illegal acts by officials of the past administration.

Many people believe appointment of a special prosecutor represents a threat, particularly to some officers of the Mahama administration including the former president himself because it will be armed with sweeping powers, including the right to subpoena documents or interview the President as it builds cases centered on alleged acts of graft by government appointees and civil servants.

Ex-president Mahama and some past government officials have stayed loud fiercely rallying support from their strong political base since the passage of the special prosecutor act, in what many have said to be an attempt to discredit any inquiry before its starts or to prejudge its results.

President Akufo-Addo assented to the Special Prosecutor law this year.



Mr. Iddrisu has assured members of the former NDC government will cooperate fully with whoever is appointed as the special prosecutor and he hoped the prosecutor would broaden investigations into recent developments in the country involving the NPP government officials.

“We will watch as the office is being established. We look forward to who’s appointed as the special prosecutor and we look forward to cooperating. There will be issues in the past but essentially there are issues which are present, which are credible candidates for special prosecution that he must be interested in.

“A special prosecutor, like it or not must uphold a fundamental principle of the equality of the law and natural justice. It should not know only former functionaries of NDC and not know present functionaries of his government who may suffer infractions of the law,” the Minority Leader stated.

With the exception of one community, the entire constituency, the largest in the Northern region, has reached the unprecedented mark of 99.05% of electricity coverage, a rare and unremarkable feat.

The MP boasted of honouring a strong political pledge to his constituents when he promised that no community under his watch would be without electricity and extended appreciation to former Ministers, Directors of Power and Energy for helping him realise another promise.