Michael Donyina Mensah, Executive Director of the Centre for Public Opinion and Awareness (CenPOA), believes that the Office of Special Prosecutor was established for populist and political reasons rather than to investigate corruption and corruption-related activities.
He claimed that if we had strong rather than weak state institutions, the Office of Special Prosecutor would not have been necessary.
Mr. Mensah, speaking on Rainbow Radio 87.5FM’s Frontline, stated that those who have called for the OSP to be scrapped have valid reasons because it has failed to meet expectations.
He told host Kwabena Agyapong that he would propose for the OSP to be attached to any of the state institutions that has the mandate of investigating criminal and corruption-related activities.
The policy analyst indicated that the OSP over the years has been used for political reasons and not a tool for dealing with corruption.
”The Office of Special Prosecutor is more like a populist and political establishment. It was established because our state institutions are weak. If we had strong institutions, the OSP would have been a needless office. If the institutions we have in charge of handling corruption and corruption-related activities were strong, the OSP would have been needless. So to those who have called for it to be scrapped, I would not necessarily support that. Still, the OSP should be attached to other state institutions with the Ghana Police, BNI or any other state body to prevent the political colourisation of the body.”
He stated that the Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) initiative was established for the same reason as the OSP.
He noted that “all these establishments were formed because of our weak institutions.” They are unnecessary and exist solely because Ghanaians have lost trust and faith in these institutions. If the Ghana Police Service performed as expected, these mushroom short-term arrangements would be unnecessary”.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
