The Supreme Court has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Kenneth Kwabena Agyei Kuranchie, Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Searchlight Newspaper, challenging the constitutionality of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP).

The 2024 independent parliamentary candidate was seeking to have the creation of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) and its powers declared unlawful.

This includes the OSP’s powers of arrest, detention, freezing, and seizure, which he has described as abusive.

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Mr Kuranchie in his writ asked the Supreme Court to declare the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (ACT 957) as contrary to “Articles 11, 17. (1)(2) and (3), 88. (3) and (4), 289.(2) 290. (1) (f)) and 290. (2) to (4), 12. (2) and 107 (b) of the 1992 Constitution.”

He is seeking to place the OSP’s prosecutorial powers under the direct control of the Attorney General, similar to the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO), Police, and National Investigation Bureau (NIB).

The Special Prosecutor Act, which was used to establish the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) as a specialised agency to investigate specific cases of alleged or suspected corruption and corruption-related offences involving public officers and politically exposed persons in the performance of their functions as well as persons in the private sector involved in the commission of alleged or suspected corruption and corruption-related offences, prosecute these offences on the authority of the Attorney-General and provide for related matters.

This was not Mr. Kuranchie’s first legal challenge against the OSP; he had previously filed and later discontinued a similar case last year.

However, his recent filing was also dismissed by the Supreme Court.

The Court said the OSP should not be distracted by such lawsuits and should instead focus on its mandate.