Private legal practitioner, Lawyer Kwame Owiredu, has called for the detachment of the unit of public prosecution from the Attorney General’s Department to operate as an autonomous body.
Speaking on Bullet TV’s 60 Minutes on Sunday, his remarks followed renewed calls by Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga and some Members of Parliament for the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) to be scrapped, with the suggestion that the Attorney General should take over all corruption investigations and prosecutions.
Mr. Owiredu, however, argued that the rationale behind the creation of the OSP would persist even if it were dissolved, since the Attorney General remains an appointee of the Executive.
“So we should have a public prosecution authority just as we have Ghana Revenue Authority,” he said.
The legal practitioner stressed that such a body would insulate government from interference in prosecutions. He cited instances where the Attorney General discontinued ongoing cases from previous administrations after entering nolle prosequi (a discretionary action by the prosecutor, often signifying the state’s unwillingness to continue the prosecution)
“I am of the view that these prosecutorial powers should be centralized or should be given exclusively to the Public Prosecution Authority I am saying should be formed. So EOCO could do its investigations and all that but when it comes to prosecution, we should give it to the public prosecution authority” He added.
