The Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Godfred Dame, has served notice that he will respect the independence of the Office of the Special Prosecutor and will not stand in the way of the prosecutor in the fight against corruption.
“I pledge to you my intention not to interfere with your work and I will not do that at all. I recognise your independence and I will make sure all the help you require is given to you, from recruitment of competent personnel to budgetary allocation,” Dame said when Kissi Agyebeng, the Special Prosecutor, paid a courtesy call on him.
For his part, Agyebeng said he is reviewing all cases before him and the strength of his staff.
“I have about nine workers, including drivers and cleaners, one prosecutor on secondment from your office, one investigator on secondment from the police. I am currently reviewing all cases before the Office,” he told the Attorney General.
Agyebeng also appealed for attractive salaries for his staff to motivate them to work effectively.
“You can’t fight corruption with poorly paid staff and staff on secondment. It will be a lost battle,” he said.
Agyebeng said he plans to have 250 staff in his fold by the end of January 2022.
The Special Prosecutor was sworn in to office on 5 August 2021. He was approved unanimously, barely an hour after his vetting, by the members of Parliament’s appointments committee on Friday 30 July 2021.
Make corruption unattractive
He has promised to clamp down on corruption.
“I am not naive to assume that I am coming to stop corruption,” Agyebeng said at his vetting. “There’s no way I can stop corruption: God Himself will not lay claim to that. But I am going to make corruption very costly to engage in.”
He added: “First, I am going to institute what I call ‘Pressure for Progress’ and in this quest, there will be a systemic review of all public sector institutions and the development of integrity plans.”
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