Politics

OSP funding issues relevant – GII

The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) has stated that funding issues for the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) remain relevant and should be resolved.

It noted that the fact remained that the new office which needed resources to operate had not been resources enough and must be done to curb corruption.

“The real concerns we raised about the funding issues remain relevant and whether they are malicious or ill-informed, the fact remains that the new office which needs resources to operate has not been resourced enough,” the GII insisted.

The absence of the board members has been a thorny issue for many civil society organisations that lamented the lack of a substantive board and the impact on the operations of the Special Prosecutor and the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, has worked without a board since he took office nine months ago.

But speaking at the inauguration of a nine-member Board for the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), Godfred Dame, the Attorney General and Minister for Justice, fought off claims that the government was starving the OSP of funds and also described the allegation as malicious, misinformation and ill-researched.

He indicated the OSP was far more resourced than his own outfit because the record would show that apart from the amount released for the compensation of employees, only a total amount of less than a quarter of what was reported as having been received by the OSP had been released for the operations of the entire Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice.

However, Mary Addah, the Senior Programmes Officer for GII, rebuked Mr Dame for dismissing resource difficulties at the OSP and described his assertion as unfortunate, for him to compare funds his office had received to that of the OSP and maintained that the comments were unfair and unjustifiable.

“The Attorney General and Minister for Justice says his office has not been resourced as that of the OSP but I think is an unfortunate and unjustifiable comparison to make but the fact remains the office needs resources to function. –myjoyonline.com

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