‘It is premature to call for closure of OSP’ – Mahama

President John Dramani Mahama has dismissed growing calls for the closure of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP). He insisted that the institution remains an essential pillar in the country’s anti-corruption architecture.

Speaking at the Jubilee House on Wednesday, December 10, 2025, President Mahama said recent controversies involving the OSP — including the detention of private lawyer Martin Kpebu — do not justify demands for the Office to be scrapped. He described such calls as “premature” and urged the public to maintain confidence in the institution as reforms and investigations advance.

“That’s why we are resourcing the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) and the other anti-corruption institutions, including the Office of the Special Prosecutor,” the President said. “Recently, there have been some controversies surrounding the Office of the Special Prosecutor. I think it is premature to call for the closure of that Office.”

President Mahama explained that the OSP plays a unique role because, unlike other anti-corruption agencies, it has its own prosecutorial powers and does not require authorization from the Attorney-General to initiate cases.

“The unique thing about that Office is that it is the only anti-corruption agency that has prosecutorial powers to prosecute cases without going through the Attorney-General,” he stated. He added that public mistrust for the Attorney-General — who is often a political appointee — was a key motivation for establishing an independent prosecutor.

He urged the Special Prosecutor to fast-track ongoing corruption cases and deliver concrete outcomes that will strengthen public confidence in the OSP. “People want to see more prosecutions and more results. So, I will urge the OSP to speed up some of these investigations and also show people that the Office is still relevant,” President Mahama noted.

The debate over the OSP’s relevance intensified after Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin questioned the constitutional foundation of the Office. Speaking in Parliament on December 4, he argued that the establishment of the OSP lacked a constitutional basis and had so far failed to produce results commensurate with its budgetary allocations.

“At the end of the day, we have seen the results, and we cannot continue to allocate those huge sums to the same Office when we are not getting results,” Speaker Bagbin said during deliberations.

Amid the renewed scrutiny, Deputy Attorney-General Justice Srem Sai has confirmed that a private citizen, Noah E. Tetteh, has filed a case at the Supreme Court challenging the legality of granting autonomous prosecutorial powers to the OSP. The suit seeks to strike down portions of the OSP Act that shield the Office from the Attorney-General’s constitutional authority over prosecutions.