Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has raised strong concerns over the continuous allocation of large budgetary resources to the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), describing the expenditure as unjustifiable given the office’s performance.
Speaking on the floor of Parliament on Thursday, December 4, during deliberations on the OSP’s budget allocation, the Speaker reminded the House of earlier warnings about the legal foundation of the office and its effectiveness.
“There are some agencies, this morning, I heard you talking about one of them, that is the OSP. And if you recall, during the deliberation on the OSP, a number of us stated on the floor of this House that there’s no constitutional basis, but we wanted to signal to the world that we are going to fight corruption,” he said.
Speaker Bagbin noted that despite the initial goodwill that accompanied the establishment of the OSP, its performance has not matched the significant investment made.
“At the end of the day, we have seen the results, and we cannot continue to allocate that huge sums to the same office when we are not getting the results,” he said.
“This is one of the agencies we should be looking at. It is getting almost the same amount like the Attorney General’s Department.”
The Speaker urged Members of Parliament to confront the issue directly to ensure prudent use of public funds.
“Please, let’s face the bull by the horns and make sure the right thing is done. And so I agree with the Majority leader and as we go through this, the Minister for Finance….I think the Majority leader will take note of it and apprise them of the discussions,” he said.
Speaker Bagbin also welcomed the House’s decision to hold a committee-of-the-whole or closed sitting to address major outstanding concerns, describing the move as timely.
“It’s very, very important that as a House, we cannot continue to be failing the good people of Ghana. If we do our work well, we’ll be able to curb corruption.
“We’ll be able to hold the executive to account for a stewardship, not only in terms of money, but in terms of the trust, the trust that the people repose in leadership,” he added.