Minority Leader of Ghana’s Parliament, Haruna Iddrisu has debunked allegations that the minority is not in support of the passage of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Bill assuring that they are in full support of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s initiative to rid the country of corruption.
He said, “we will help him to fight corruption and to build stronger transparent and accountable institutions that serve our purposes well and that we recognise that corruption remains a burning national issue”.
Speaking at the stakeholder conference on the Office of the Special Prosecutor Bill, Mr Iddrisu added that corruption remains the greatest threat to the “sustenance of multi-party constitutional democracy” as well as undermine public trust and the operation of the rule of law.
He added that corruption is a human problem which affects every public institution in the country adding that Ghanaians should be undivided in the fight against corruption.
Haruna Iddrisu, however, pointed out that the Bill had some shortfalls which he described as ‘missing links’.
Among other things, the minority leader said the independence the Special Prosecutor is expected to enjoy is questionable as the long title of the bill states that the prosecutor can only prosecute offences on the authority of the Attorney General.
He was of the view that the president should appoint the Special Prosecutor with the prior approval of Parliament.
He further stated that “an addition to the remit of the office of the Special Prosecutor must be recommendations of Parliament based on the Public Accounts Committee report so that the leakages, misappropriation, embezzlement also can directly be punished by the Special Prosecutor”.
