By Felix Cofie
A member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) legal team, James Kofi Afedo, has described the idea behind the establishment of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) as sound, but says its delivery has fallen far short of expectations.
According to Lawyer Afedo, the disappointing performance of the office justifies calls by some stakeholders for it to be scrapped. He noted that those advocating for the dissolution of the OSP are within their rights, given what he described as its inability to meet the objectives for which it was created.
However, he maintained that President John Dramani Mahama was right in directing the Majority Leader to withdraw a private member’s bill seeking to initiate processes to abolish the office. Lawyer Afedo explained that President Mahama campaigned on the anti-corruption agenda dubbed Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) and, as such, cannot be seen as leading efforts to dismantle an institution established to combat corruption.
He further argued that fighting white-collar crime, particularly corruption, is a complex and time-consuming process that requires patience and institutional support. “One year is far too short a period to even build a solid docket for prosecuting corruption-related cases,” he stressed.
