With the best will in the world, the idea of the Special Prosecutor was always going to be challenging. The question of independence was always going to be questioned, sniffed at, laughed at and ripped apart, regardless of who got the job.
The answer to the question of the need for the office in the first place has not become any clearer. If one was to enquire today, the response would probably still be in support, but with a definite question mark against the chances of success. Those chances have not been improved by the abysmal showing of the first person in the role.
A fair assessment would be to say that the prospects were dimmed substantially, whether through lack of performance or outright public failure.
Whether the next occupant will fare any better is open to discussion, but certainly one can assume that his performance cannot possibly be any worse. We can at least be assured that grandstanding will not feature prominently in the make-up of the individual who has been named to fill the non-performing shoes of the previous occupant, or the way he decides to interpret the job. It would be hard to imagine that anybody could be as brazenly ill-equipped, unfit for purpose and as criminally self-absorbed.
Useful wrongdoing
The fanfare that greeted the appointment of the first occupant of the post, public euphoria leading to the most embarrassing of damp squibs of underachievement, should be of concern to the executive. And, one would hope, this will inform the decision as to how the second special prosecutor will manage the office’s affairs as he undertakes the assignment.
One cannot envy Kissi Agyebeng as he assumes the role but we wish him much good fortune and peace of mind, and encourage him to spend a moment in quiet contemplation of how not to do the job. The example of the wrong way to be the Special Prosecutor is starkly clear, present and dangerous, and should be of great help to the appointee.
As to the appointing authority, as usual they managed to make even the simple process of appointment almost farcical, ensuring that as much speculation as possible surrounded the nomination, because somebody thought it would be idea to make even the recommendation letter to the president a media event.
If it is possible to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in public relations and communications, we can always count on some sneaky halfwit to find a way.
Set the rules
One would have thought that, with all the propaganda, illiterate commentary, accusation and counteraccusation that has been the hallmark to date of this most sensitive of offices, the last thing the appointing authorities would have been needed or wanted would have been more of the same. Yet obviously we are not as astute as we think, and there is a plan that escapes the simple-minded observer.
All this notwithstanding, if the desire is to make the office work, there are a few things to consider. An external appointee will have to start from scratch and play catch-up, which in essence means that the past two years may go to waste. The Attorney General should rethink any notion which may have formed, that, because his is the recommending office, he somehow has some say in the affairs of the Office of the Special Prosecutor. The appointee should also spend less time trying to prove his bona fides and more time knuckling down and getting on with it.
It is critical that, as he enters the job, Kissi Agyebeng must do so understanding that he will set the rules, standards and habits for the office, and that he sets his own agenda, which will include his relationship or lack thereof with the media. This can be either highly beneficial or extremely antagonistic: it is up to the SP.
Beyond a petit fonction
The position of SP partly resembles set-ups in some other countries. So it really wouldn’t harm if our new SP were to spend a moment finding out how these work, how they were established and how they succeed.
In all the hue and cry and whining that went on, one of the most petulant of complaints was the need for specially secure offices. While this may become important, I can only cite the current example of the director of public prosecutions of Kenya, whose independence – unlike in Ghana – separates the position from that of the minister of justice and guarantees the occupant complete autonomy.
The Office of the DPP is one of the most feared in that country, and takes no prisoners, even though the departments are co-located in the main ministry complex, accessible to visitors and not guarded like Fort Knox. This despite the highly political and sensitive nature of many prosecutions by the DPP.
Location was never really the issue, and, if Kenya is anything to go by, in our case the question of security was just an excuse. So, one hopes that the new bod will focus on doing the job, establishing relationships of trust with complementary offices, setting parameters and areas of responsibility, interpreting the role properly, training investigators and prosecutors, avoiding turf wars (there really is enough corruption to go round) and leaving the trappings of office and administration to the administrators.
Indeed, the less the SP involves himself in the petty bureaucracy, the better for all concerned.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor may never materialise into what the many Ghanaians who hailed its arrival imagined it could be. But, with a little push in the right direction, it can become an independent source of fear for those engaged in high-level corruption.
If nothing else, it will equip us with another deterrent arm in the arsenal for this fight.
Joseph Roberts Mensah
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