Martin Amidu has delivered a blistering critique of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), describing it as a rogue institution that has strayed far from its anti-corruption mandate.
In a detailed open letter sighted by MyNewsGH, the Former Special Prosecutor accused the OSP, under the leadership of William Kissi Agyebeng, of engaging in what he termed “anti-corruption entrepreneurship,” asserting that the office has been wasting taxpayer funds under the guise of fighting corruption.
“The OSP has become a rogue anti-corruption agency engaged in anti-corruption entrepreneurship, dissipating millions of Ghana Cedis budgeted for the agency,” Amidu wrote. “It has resorted to threatening and trying suspects presumed innocent in the court of public opinion using rented media, compromising investigations and prosecutions as a private venture for the past three years without any positive achievement to show the taxpayer.”
Amidu was particularly critical of the OSP’s recent threat to issue an INTERPOL Red Notice against former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, who is currently in the United States receiving medical treatment. He argued that the move is another example of the office abusing its constitutional powers.
“These threats of declaring Ken Ofori-Atta a wanted suspect and proceeding to obtain an INTERPOL Red Notice for his arrest are hallmarks of the Special Prosecutor abusing his powers under the 1992 Constitution,” he said. “It is nothing more than blowing hot air in the media to manipulate public opinion.”
The former Special Prosecutor also recalled a controversial episode where Kissi Agyebeng allegedly travelled abroad without legal authority to visit four suspects facing corruption charges. According to Amidu, those suspects had already been charged in court, had arrest warrants issued against them, and were subjects of INTERPOL Red Notices.
“William Kissi Agyebeng visited four absconded suspects in the United Kingdom for interviewing and closed the case docket,” Amidu alleged. “And yet now, he chooses to grandstand in the media about Ken Ofori-Atta.”
Amidu questioned why the OSP has not used its claimed collaboration with the FBI to verify Ofori-Atta’s medical records, especially when similar claims were made in the case of former Sanitation Minister Cecilia Dapaah.
He concluded by warning that the real motive behind the OSP’s public threats is to curry favor with the new government and secure future budgetary allocations.
“With the appointing President out of office, Kissi Agyebeng is simply leading the OSP to ingratiate itself into the favours of the new government for more budgetary allocations to be dissipated at the taxpayer’s expense as usual,” Amidu said.
