The Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, has said that prior to his assumption of office, Ghana’s fight against corruption was in a reverse motion.

Mr. Agyebeng indicated that for three years, the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) was not operationalised, staff and the required logistics to effectively deal with the canker were not in place.

The Special Prosecutor disclosed this during a news conference on Thursday to commemorate International Anti-Corruption Day. He used the occasion to update the nation on his review of all the alleged cases of corruption and corruption-related offences since taking over from Martin Amidu in August, 2021.

“Upon my assumption of office on 5 August, 2021 as the second Special Prosecutor of the Republic, I noticed that the OSP had not been operationalised and it was without its own staff and necessary resources. The fight against corruption had, in effect, been thrown in reverse for three (3) years,” he said.

The Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959) allows for a Finance, Administration, Asset Recovery, Management and Investigations and Prosecutions Divisions.

Having assumed office, Mr. Agyebeng believes the OSP has been resuscitated to prevent, suppress and repress corruption more efficiently and effectively than has ever been done in the country.

He further revealed that his outfit is currently investigating 31 corruption and corruption-related cases and in due time prosecution will commence.

The Special Prosecutor therefore reiterated his commitment to ensure corrupt practices are minimised in the country.

“I have commenced engagement with law enforcement and anti-corruption agencies including the Attorney-General’s Department, National Security Secretariat, Ghana Police Service, Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, Economic and Organised Crime Office, and the Financial Intelligence Centre,” he added.

The OSP will, from January, 2022 also begin assessing public agencies and entities on perceived levels of corruption.

He explained that the move to rank public agencies against each other on a corruption barometer forms part of the OSP’s pressure-for-progress drive, under which an Annual Ghana Corruption League Table will be instituted.

For each year, the results of the corruption findings will be published on December 9, adding that the assessment will be conducted based on the estimation of experts and business people.