Politics

NPP expresses worry over seeming inaction of OSP…But Anti-Corruption Coalition says is misplaced

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has expressed worry over the seeming inaction from the Office of Special Prosecutor (OSP) 12 months after its establishment.

According to the party, the inaction characterising the office headed by former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Martin Amidu has heightened the public’s impatience thus the need to change gear.

Yaw Buabeng Asamoah, Communications Director of the NPP, speaking at a press conference in Accra, bemoaned how the inaction at the Office of the Special Prosecutor is affecting public confidence in the government’s anti-corruption stance.

However, Harrison Cudjoe, a member of the Anti-Corruption Coalition Campaign, has indicated that the call by the NPP on the Office of the Special Prosecutor to provide a status report on work done so far is misplaced.

“The party is concerned that the seeming inaction of the Special Prosecutor, Mr Amidu can affect its electoral fortunes in the 2020 elections bearing in mind that the party came to power with the promise to deal with corruption with the establishment of the Office of the Special Prosecutor.

” NPP cannot single out the office of the special prosecutor in its lackluster fight against the menace, I’m surprised that the NPP is calling on him to provide the update, you are the party in government you could have gone to him and pile pressure on him to have honoured what the law says but you haven’t done that.

“You are how many months into governance and you’re now calling on him to provide the information, he should provide the half-yearly report but I don’t think the NPP is right in calling for it now,” Mr Cudjoe bemoaned.

According to Mr Asamoah, “the Special Prosecutor wants to establish an institution, a solid institution that will stand the test of time but the office of the special prosecutor should also be aware that there’s a certain public impatience about seeing something done.

“I urge Mr Amidu, to publish a status report on the progress made thus far on investigations aimed at reinvigorating public confidence in the government and President Akufo-Addo’s resolve to fight corruption in the country.

“I encourage him to demonstrate some readiness, maybe some low hanging fruits, make some pronouncements, I think some sort of status report at this stage may help us,” Mr Asamoah stressed.

But Mr Cudjoe pointed out that “what happened in January this year didn’t they [NPP] know that they had to ask him to provide that information? why have they waited until now to call the OSP to act, is it because they feel that people are now saying that the government has failed the anti-corruption fight?

“That’s why they want to absolve themselves of it and they want to push him out and make it look like he’s not doing his work, the government’s image has been affected already, all the corruption scandals that came up that this government has failed to deal decisively with, their image is already affected, I don’t see how pushing the OSP out is going to clean their image,”  Mr Cudjoe lamented.

President Akufo-Addo established the Office of the Special Prosecutor as a fulfillment of a campaign promise during the 2016 elections. The office, according to him, will fight corruption on an independent, objective and neutral basis.

There have been massive public outcries lately over the effectiveness of the office in the wake of several scandals that rocked the government, the latest being attempts by a Minister of State to bribe Starr FM journalist, Edward Adeti to kill a damning story on a Chinese Mining Company. –starrfmonline.com/kasapafmonline.com

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