Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng has alleged that some calls to abolish or weaken the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) are driven by personal dislike for its leadership rather than concerns about the institution’s work.
He said some of the criticism and attacks against the OSP were not based on any proven misconduct by him or other senior officials but stemmed from a preference for different individuals to lead the institution.
Speaking at a press conference, Mr Agyebeng warned that allowing personal disagreements with public officials to become grounds for weakening state institutions could undermine national development.
“On another score, I state with extreme reluctance that some of the attacks intended at abolishing the OSP or dimming its light stem from personal dislike against the occupant of the seat of the Special Prosecutor and the operational directors,” he said.
Mr Agyebeng said there was no evidence to suggest that he or other officials targeted by such criticism had engaged in “obnoxious or untoward conduct”.
He argued that disagreements with individual office holders should not be used as a reason to dismantle or weaken an institution established by law to fight corruption.
“On the contrary, it is a case of simply a preference for other persons to the operational directors and me to drive down a public institution set up to fight corruption,” he said.
According to him, calls to abolish the OSP simply because of dislike for its current leadership amount to placing personalities above institutions.
He described such an approach as “the antithesis of development”.
His comments form part of a broader defence of the OSP against what he described as sustained attacks and attempts to limit the institution’s powers.
Mr Agyebeng maintained that the OSP was not above criticism and had made mistakes in the past.
However, he insisted that such shortcomings should not be used as a justification for weakening the institution or undermining its mandate to fight corruption.
