Legal practitioner and former Director of the Ghana School of Law, Kwaku Ansah-Asare has issued a fierce critique of Ghana’s anti-corruption institutions,  arguing that the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP)has failed to deliver on its mandate and is instead becoming “another agency for corruption.”

Speaking on Accra 100.5 FM’s The Citizen Show hosted by Kwabena Bobie Ansah, Lawyer Ansah-Asare said the “writing on the wall” shows that the office has lost public confidence and needs to be “scrubbed” entirely.

According to him, the continuous creation of agencies such as EOCO, NIB, and the OSP office has not reduced corruption but has instead created more opportunities for misconduct.

“One day, we will be in this country and the staff of these institutions will come out mercilessly with revelations.

The more we create EOCO, the more we create NIB, the more we create OSP, the more the state becomes vulnerable,” he argued.

Lawyer Ansah-Asare added that Ghana should focus on reducing the recipe for corruption, not multiplying institutions that end up being compromised.

He called on the state to channel these resources to the Office of Public Prosecution to bolster it to help fight corruption 

He recalled that he had earlier criticised the establishment of ORAL, predicting it would not function effectively because those managing it would “eat from it.”

“I said ORAL would not go well because the people who would take care of it would squander money from there.

A time will come when we won’t even know how to talk about it,” he stated.

Turning to the recent request by the President for leadership of Parliament to halt the promulgation of a Private Member's Bill to abrogate the OSP, he cautioned that the lack of alignment could weaken public trust.

He stressed that while the President has the right to express his views, clarity is needed when his position contradicts that of the Majority Leader and Chief Whip.

“If the Majority Leader and Chief Whip have shared a certain position and the President is not on the same path, he should not come out clearly to say so.

If not, the confidence people have in the Majority Leader will reduce, and his words on the floor of Parliament will not be taken seriously,” Ansah-Asare warned.