Vitus Azeem, Anti-Corruption Campaigner, has admonished Kissi Agyebeng, the Special Prosecutor, to avoid using unorthodox methods to appoint people to the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP).
“Such unconventional methods undermine the integrity, confidence and the trust people have in the anti-corruption institution,” he cautioned.
Mr Azeem indicated that whereas it was true the OSP was severely under resourced and under staffed to work at full capacity, trying to recruit staff through shady means was rather uncalled for and speaks poorly of the office.
His concern follows an allegation by ColonelKwadwo Damoah (RTD) of the Ghana Revenue Authority Customs Division that Mr Agyebeng, had been trying to recruit someone from the Customs Division to the OSP and the ongoing investigation into activities of Customs Division is payback for refusing to approve transfer of his staff to the office.
According to Mr Azeem, it should be accepted Mr Agyebeng does not have necessary resources, both human and material, to meet peoples expectation and while assessing him and his office, there was also need to put pressure on the government to give him resources to do his work effectively and efficiently.
“When you look at what Col. Damoah said about one Akurugu, it was like he was going round to institutions begging for secondment of staff which is not good enough for an anti-corruption institution because he should be able to advertise publicly through Public Service Commission, adopt transparent and miscellaneous approach to recruit his staff so that people will have the confidence and trust in the institution.
“If he has been begging for secondment of staff that is not the best, the Ministry of Finance needs to give him clearance to recruit people he needs and he too must adopt transparent processes and recruiting from within his close circles also undermines independence of staff at the office which adversely affects the work they do there,” Mr Azeem contended.
He postulated that Mr Agyebeng should not allow anybody to accuse him of using unorthodox methods of appointing people to the institution so as not to allow people lose trust and confidence in him and the office and people coming in would not be independent enough to know their worth.
