The Member of Parliament for South Dayi and Majority Chief Whip, Mr Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, has criticised the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), accusing the institution of consuming vast public resources without delivering commensurate results, and describing it as an entity that is “just guzzling money”.
His comments come after he joined the Majority Leader, Mr Mahama Ayariga, to put together a private member’s bill aimed at repealing the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act and abolishing the OSP. The draft bill has not yet been formally presented to Parliament.
The criticism of the OSP coincided with remarks by President John Mahama, who cautioned against calls to abolish the office, insisting that it was too early to dismantle the institution and that it still has an important role to play within Ghana’s anti-corruption framework.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Monday, December 22, Mr Dafeamekpor questioned the justification for the significant budgetary allocations made to the office in recent years.
He disclosed that Parliament had approved a budget of GH¢250 million for the OSP for the 2026 financial year, an amount he said was almost identical to what the office received in 2025.
According to the Majority Chief Whip, this level of funding is comparable to that of the Attorney-General’s Department, which he argued delivers far greater value to the state.
“The entity was just guzzling money,” he said, adding that the Attorney-General’s Department operates with regional offices across the country and oversees a wide range of prosecutions handled at district level by police prosecutors acting on its behalf.
Mr Dafeamekpor explained that cases prosecuted by police prosecutors are effectively conducted in the name of the Attorney-General and are therefore captured as part of the department’s output.
He said these figures demonstrate a clear contrast with the OSP, which he accused of failing to translate investigations into actual prosecutions.
“If you compare the utility value the Attorney-General is giving us, it is clear,” he stated. “Nobody is saying imprison people. What we are saying is that once cases are prosecutable, prosecute them and let the accused persons have their day in court so the cases can be disposed of.”
He criticised what he described as the OSP’s tendency to embark on prolonged investigations without conclusion, while repeatedly issuing reports instead of filing cases before the courts.
In his view, this approach delays justice and undermines public confidence in the anti-corruption effort.
Beyond concerns about cost and efficiency, Mr Dafeamekpor also raised allegations of intimidation of lawyers who engage with the OSP.
He cited two cases involving lawyers Israel Ackah and Martin Kpebu, claiming that Mr Ackah was arrested and restrained after accompanying a client to the OSP following a disagreement with officials of the office.
“Israel took a client to the OSP and for some disagreement, he was restrained and placed under arrest. It took some effort to bring him out,” he said, describing the incident as disturbing and inconsistent with the rule of law.
The Majority Chief Whip maintained that the Majority holds the view that the funds currently allocated to the OSP would be better utilised if redirected to the Attorney-General’s Department.
With additional resources, he argued, the Attorney-General’s office could recruit more lawyers, strengthen its prosecutorial capacity and handle corruption-related cases more effectively across the country.