Prosecutions of public officials alleged to have engaged in corrupt practices will not begin this year as the Independent Special Prosecutor is expected to begin its work next year with a review of all government agreements.
Parliament at a marathon sitting Tuesday night passed the bill that would establish the office of the Special Prosecutor to spearhead the prosecution of public and political officials dabble in corruption.
The Akufo-Addo government has been waiting for the passage of the bill, which was one of the key campaign promises of the New Patriotic Party in the run up to the 2016 election, to prosecute government appointees under the John Mahama administration among others.
Though the Akufo-Addo government claims to have unearthed some corrupt acts against some Mahama and government appointees, it has been waiting on the establishment of the Special Prosecutor office to proceed with prosecutions.
But at the 2018 Budget presentation to parliament, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta told said the operationalization of the Office of the Special Prosecutor would be activated by the Attorney General in 2018, contrary to expectations that the Special Prosecutor will hit the ground running.
“The office of the AG department will operationalize the office of the special prosecutor; review all agreements for MDAs and MMDAs with the aim to secure successful convictions in the vast majority of cases referred to the office by the Police,” he announced
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