Resource OSP with adequate funding to fight corruption – CSOs to Akufo-Addo

A group of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) working on anti-corruption and good governance issues in the country are calling on President Akufo-Addo to make the necessary funding available to resource the Office of the Special Prosecutor to execute his mandate effectively.

The group of CSOs on October 26, 2021, had a meeting with the Special Prosecutor (SP), Mr. Kissi Agyebeng, at his office at Ridge, Accra.

The meeting, called at the instance of the SP was to deliberate on how best the OSP can work with CSOs to engender a public space where corruption can be made a high risk and low reward activity.

After learning of how the Office of the Special Prosecutor is underfunded, the CSOs through a press statement has called on government to make the necessary investment.

“The CSOs therefore, call on the President to ensure the OSP has adequate funding for the first crucial year of operations. We are dismayed to hear that of the GHS 1.2 billion that was budgeted for capital and recurrent expenditure, only GHS 80 million was allocated for the 2022 financial year representing only 6.6% of what was requested.

“This is far below what was even allocated by government in the 2018 financial year for the setting up of the Office, although the money was never accessed. We acknowledge that the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted negatively on government resources and there are many essential competing needs,” parts of the statement issued by the CSOs has said.

It adds, “We urge government to do its best to ensure the OSP is finally able to get off the ground so it can do its important integrity building and anti-corruption work, an agenda that the President and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) have identified as a key development priority if Ghana is to transform and go beyond aid.”

The Special Prosecutor, Mr. Kissi Agyebeng after his swearing into office, has set sight on corruption prevention activities targeted at addressing issues such as gift-giving, developing and preparing integrity plans for public agencies, conducting corruption risk assessments for major financial transactions, production of a manual to guide citizens on the operations of the Office and the launch of a flagship tool to track the progress of institutions called the Corruption League Table.

In addition, the SP is focused on asset recovery, use of plea bargaining, and prosecution, backed by good forensic work and investigations.

Find below the statement issued by the CSOs: