Clara Beeri Kasser-Tee, a lecturer at the University of Ghana Law School, has proffered that making the Attorney General (AG) and Special Prosecutor (SP) positions elective will improve probity, accountability and transparency.
She explained that the positions should be elected rather than appointed because role of prosecution and initiation of civil proceedings on behalf of the state can be performed by elected officials who will be accountable directly to the citizenry.
“It is time to have an Attorney General who answers directly to Ghanaians and we do not have to worry we have judgments debt that look like judgment debts but in reality are just payments from public purse to party financiers,” Mrs Kasser-Tee lamented.
She made the call at the 6th Kwadwo Baah Wiredu Memorial Lectures held in Accra, organised by the Chief Policy Analyst at the Ghana Institute of Public Policy Options, Dr Charles Wereko-Brobbey to celebrate the former Minister of Finance, Kwadwo Baah Wiredu who died in 2008.
A section of Ghanaians have suggested decoupling the Ministry of Justice from the Attorney General’s office and the NPP prior to the 2016 polls pledged to deal with the issue of having an Independent Prosecutorial office by setting up the Office of the Special Prosecutor.
Mrs Kasser-Tee advocated a constitutional amendment that would require the position of an Attorney General and Special Prosecutor to be elected because the inability of Attorney Generals in the past to defend the state against judgment debts was their allegiance to the president and the governing party.
She noted that there had been various suggestions over the years regarding how to make the Offices of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice and Special Prosecutor effective and efficient and indicated that it is by making them elective.
Dr Wereko-Brobby told the gathering Mr Wiredu’s unwavering stance on corruption must guide all public officers to ensure probity, transparency and accountability in all their endeavours to protect their office.
He stressed on the need to strengthen state institution in the fight against corruption so as to reduce the menace to accelerate socioeconomic development. –myjoyonline.com
