Co-Chair of the Citizens Movement Against Corruption, Edem Senanu, says the Office of the Special Prosecutor has served its purpose effectively despite being understaffed.

His comment follows a petition by former holder of the office, Martin ABK Amidu to President Akufo-Addo seeking to remove Mr. Kissi Agyebeng, the current Special Prosecutor, which has since been forwarded to the Chief Justice.

The petition is dated April 30, 2024 and conveyed to Justice Gertrude Torkornoo on May 6, 2024.

Mr. Amidu alleges procurement breaches in the purchase of vehicles for the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) and abuses involving judges and the administration of justice.

Other allegations include violations of citizens’ rights through arrests and detentions, violations of the right to information, and improper appointments of personnel to the office.

Speaking on JoyNews' AM Show on Friday, he stated that “To be honest with you in the recent past, I do not think any of the anti–corruption agencies has done for us what the OSP has done in spite of all its difficulties, including the fact that it took till last quarter of 2023 for them to now begin engaging staff. Prior to then they probably had about 10, 15 people all the way from 2018 to September, 2023.

“So, the bulk of the issues that they have worked on, they have been understaffed and so for those of us who understand logistics in the office and what has gone on, we think that the OSP has to a very large extent served it purpose by raising the flag, picking up issues when they came into public domain, indicating an interest, giving us feedback every six months, in spite of all these challenges and we have not had that kind of high profile feedback, taking on issues by other anti–corruption agencies and so that has left the field wide open”.

The former Auditor-General, Daniel Yao Domelevo has voiced concerns over the motivation in seeking to remove the Special Prosecutor from office.

He noted that whether the effort stems from the government's displeasure with the OSP's actions or from Martin Amidu, the situation does not bode well for the fight against corruption.

Said Edem Senanu, “Corruption fights back when you are fighting corruption. We begin to wonder, is it the government of the day that is attempting to make sure that this gentleman who seems to be taking up issues they probably don’t want him to take up and trying to take a trajectory on it...

“Is it the current government or is it Martin himself because it is actually quite very odd that Martin should be taking this path. So it does not serve our fight well...as Mr Domelevo said, it would have been much better that even if Martin felt that these were substantive issues, he should have allowed other people to take it up because it does not look good at all.

“It looks like Martin has a vendetta and we are wondering is he being influenced because there is a bigger issue somebody does not want Kissi Agyebeng in office and these are matters all of us should be concerned about,” he noted.