The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has faced challenges in communicating its work effectively, according to Samuel Appiah-Darko, Director of the Strategy, Research and Communications Division. He said this communication gap allows negative narratives to dominate public discourse.
“One of the problems the OSP has always faced is the lack of enough opportunity to speak. There are too many voices against the OSP, yet we don’t get a lot of time to explain what we are doing,” Mr. Appiah-Darko said during a national dialogue on the Office’s mandate on Tuesday, March 31.
His remarks come amid growing calls from some politicians to scrap the OSP over alleged non-performance—a narrative amplified across more than 500 media outlets in Ghana. He warned that such coverage risks creating public misconceptions about the Office’s achievements.
While acknowledging that public scrutiny is part of democratic accountability, Mr. Appiah-Darko emphasised that it must be balanced with accurate information to maintain trust in key anti-corruption institutions.
Meanwhile, Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng has cautioned that political interference continues to threaten the OSP’s work, describing the institution as a frequent target for actors seeking to weaken its mandate.
Mr. Agyebeng suggested that the OSP’s survival has partly depended on the support of President John Dramani Mahama, noting that without such backing, the office could have faced dissolution. He referred to reports of a bill prepared by the Parliamentary Majority aimed at scrapping the institution.
He added that many politicians see the OSP as a threat to their interests, making it vulnerable to ongoing attempts to curtail its authority and operations.