President Nana Akufo-Addo says establishing the Office of the Special Prosecutor is in fulfillment of the 2016 campaign promise to fight corruption in the country.

His comments come after Civil Society Organisations and anti-corruption activists chided government for not ensuring that the Office of the Special Prosecutor functioned effectively.

According to them, the office headed by Martin Amidu has become dormant since its establishment due to the lacklustre manner in which government went about setting up the office.

But reacting to such statements in an interview on ATL Radio in the Central Region, the President said the Office is an independent entity, hence, he and his government have no influence over it.

He also noted that the Special Prosecutor’s office had been furnished with all the required resources to facilitate its mandate.

“We have fulfilled the campaign promise that we will set it up and I found a man who has the capability to do the work and [he] is a person of integrity and is keen and interested in the fight [against corruption].

“We [government] have done our best to find the necessary resources to have his office work well and he is working. I am sure that at some stage of his mandate, he will also give an account of his stewardship,” he stated.

The president expressed his confidence in Mr Amidu's work adding he did not "want to be in the position to second guess what he is doing. And also to be making comments that I am not happy with what the Special Prosecutor is doing.

“Coming from a President those kinds of remarks has a different kind of impact. He is supposed to be an independent operator within our space, so let it be so and let him be able to continue to do his work.”

President Akufo-Addo also stressed that his administration had invested resources in all the independent entities established to fight corruption, particularly, the Office of the Attorney General and the Public Procurement Office.

He made special mention of the Public Procurement Office, indicating that his administration had prioritised value for money in all its dealings to save more money for the public.

“There is also another aspect of the matter that people do not pay particular attention to. Until we came into office the Public Procurement Office made zero savings in their scrutiny of public procurement.

“However, between 2017 and 2019 Public Procurement Office Authority, despite all the problems they have, they have saved ¢2.5 billion in their scrutiny of procurement transactions [from] either sole-sourcing or restrictive tendering,” he stated.