Government has given the Office of the Special Prosecutor GH¢180 million with a promise to provide additional resources in the course of 2019.
This is to help the Office carry out its mandate.
This was disclosed by Minister of Finance Ken Ofori-Atta on the floor of Parliament on Thursday, November 15, 2018 when he presented the 2019 budget statement and economic policy.
Popular lawyer Martin Alamisi Amidu was appointed Ghana’s first Special Prosecutor after the promulgation of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act 2017, Act 959.
The former Attorney General and Minister of Justice has, however, grumbled over lack of logistics and funds to prosecute his mandate.
The latest gripe was contained in a written piece last week. Mr Amidu cited the resignation of US Attorney General Jeff Session as a case which could be repeated as a result of the fate he is being left to face.
According to him, he is being starved of resources either deliberately or inadvertently.
“One year down the line, [the Office of the Special Prosecutor] has only a small three bedroom house as an Office woefully inadequate for lack of sheer physical space to accommodate any reasonable number of employees, lack of subsidiary legislation, and consequently also financially crippled without any ability to acquire the requisite expensive operational anti-corruption and other equipment for the Office let alone to function efficiently,” he wrote in the article titled ‘The Whitaker Scenario – Stifling Independent Investigative Agencies of Funds’.
But delivering the 2019 budget, Mr Ofori-Atta revealed the determination on the part of the president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to fight corruption.
He said President Akufo-Addo wants to fulfill his promise of protecting the public purse.
“The Special Prosecutor’s Office which is established under the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act 2017 (Act 959) is one of the highest priorities of government,” he insisted.
“In this budget, the Special Prosecutor’s Office has been allocated an amount of GH¢180 million from GoG with a commitment to provide additional resources during the course of 2019 to enable the Special Prosecutor’s Office to carry out its mandate.”
By Emmanuel Kwame Amoh|3news.com|Ghana