We May Not Like What OSP Has Become, But I Disagree with Calls For Its Scrapping- Kofi Bentil
The Senior Vice President and Policy Analyst of Imani Ghana, Kofi Bentil, has taken an opposing view to calls for the scrapping of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP).
Acknowledging what he indicated as an undesirable posture of the Office, he defended its continuous running, affirming that due diligence went into its creation.
“We may not like what the OSP has become, but I don’t agree with those who say it must be scrapped!”
According to Bentil, the OSP is rather the first major step in renewing State legal systems, particularly with Prosecution.
He explained that considering the persistent corruption that often implicates individuals close to the presidency, and the long-standing reality that no Attorney General appointed by a sitting president has been willing or able to prosecute fellow cabinet members or their subordinates the office is important.
“There are other legal offices in the system which also need modernisation to provide legal advice to the eternal State system, ie Government/Administration, and also specifically to the temporal elected President/Head of State,” he added.
“The next steps are to separate the office of the Solicitor General from the Attorney General and appoint a Legal Counsel to the President (as many presidents have done recently), this way we complete the circle.”
“What we call OSP today becomes The Directorate of Public Prosecutions, whose head is not part of the elected government, and is in charge of all prosecutions. What we call the Solicitor General today becomes the Independent Office or Directorate of the Solicitor General to advise the government/Administration on contracts and legal but non-prosecutorial matters.
“Then what we call Attorney General today, becomes Counsel to the President, who advises the elected and temporal government/President. He comes and goes with the President, but the others have their terms of office specified.”
He therefore posited that the ‘waywardness’ of some officers of the Office should not distract the public from the essence of the office.
Story by Hajara Fuseini
Click to read more: https://opemsuo.com/author/hajara-fuseini/
