The government believes there is space for an effective Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) with special powers of prosecution, President John Dramani Mahama has said.
There are some ongoing legal disputes about the constitutionality of the Office of Special Prosecutor (OSP), which was created in 2017 by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) led administration.
In the last nine years, there are various debates with some suggesting that the OSP has achieved very little since its creation. There are those who also argue that the OSP is important in the fight against corruption.
Although the A-G is the defendant in the action, the draft statement of case attached to a motion seeking an extension of time to file the statement of case show that the A-G will urge the Supreme Court to declare the power of the OSP to prosecute as unconstitutional.
The motion for leave for extension of time, filed by the A-G at the Supreme Court on April 8, 2026, was to enable him to file his statement of case outside the stipulated time, in order to respond to the suit initiated by a private legal practitioner, Noah Ephraem Tetteh Adamtey, in 2025.
In his statement of case, the Attorney-General argues that Article 88 (3) of the 1992 Constitution solely vests prosecutorial powers in the A-G alone, and therefore Parliament acted unconstitutionally by passing the OSP Act, 2017 (Act 959), which made it compulsory for the A-G to delegate part of its prosecutorial powers to the OSP.
The latest hurdle for the OSP is a pending dispute at the Supreme Court seeking an interpretation on its powers to initiate prosecutions without express approval from the Attorney General in line with Article 88 (3) of the 1992 Constitution.
There is also another pending appeal at the Court of Appeal on the same issue of the powers of the OSP to initiate prosecutions without approval from the Attorney-General following a judgement from the High Court in Accra.
Already, the Attorney-General (A-G), Dr Dominic Ayine has thrown his weight behind the suit at the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of the Office of the Special Prosecutor’s (OSP’s) power to conduct prosecutions.
President Mahama’s comment at May Day parade
Speaking at the 2026 May Day parade at Jackson Park in Koforidua on Friday afternoon [May 1, 2026], President John Mahama said: “the government believes that there is space for an effective Office of the Special Prosecutor with special powers of prosecution.”
Article 88 (3) of the 1992 Constitution stipulates that “The Attorney-General shall be responsible for the initiation and conduct of all prosecutions of criminal cases”, while Article 88 (4) provides that: “All offences prosecuted in the name of the Republic of Ghana shall be at the suit of the Attorney-General or any person authorised by him in accordance with law”.
Again, the A-G contends that Act 959 has unconstitutionally varied the prosecutorial powers of the OSP in many ways.
