Special Prosecutor has received only GH¢5.7m out of GH¢180m allocation – Lawyer

The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has received only GHC5 million to fight political corruption, legal practitioner Samson Lardy Anyenini has revealed.

The Special Prosecutor was expected to receive GH¢180 million as earmarked in the 2019 budget.

The amount received so far received is about 3.2% of the budgetary allocation.

It is common practice that budgetary allocations are not fully released to state institutions in full.

But the paltry sum received by the Special Prosecutor is expected to raise questions about the government’s fight against corruption.

Mr. Amidu, recently explained in an interview with David Ampofo on ‘Time with David’ that the budgetary allocation “is just on paper”.

He has been lamenting that the lack of resources is affecting his work in retrieving ill-gotten state funds and prosecuting corrupt officials.

The Office of Special Prosecutor is a three-bedroom apartment converted into an office in Accra.

The OSP remains severely understaffed. Only one case is in court since Martin Amidu was sworn into office in February 2018.

Martin Amidu has been severely criticized for the lack of prosecutions since he began his work.

Questions will also be asked about why the Special Prosecutor used only GH¢ 673,000 out of the GH¢5.7m his office received.