ACCRA, April 24, 2026 \u2014 The Chairman of Parliament\u2019s Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee, Hon. Mahama Shaibu, has maintained that the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) lacks constitutional authority to prosecute cases on its own, insisting that prosecutorial powers remain solely with the Attorney General under Article 88(4) of the 1992 Constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking after the committee concluded clause-by-clause consideration of the anti-LGBTQ+ bill on Friday, Hon. Shaibu used the briefing to restate his long-held position on the OSP, first argued on the floor of Parliament in 2017 when the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act was passed.*<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUnnecessary from the Start\u201d<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI spent ten minutes on the floor of Parliament arguing that the creation of the OSP at the time was unnecessary and did not have the teeth to bite,\u201d Shaibu said. \u201cI have always maintained that the OSP did not have legs to stand on. If it did at all, it did so at the behest of the Attorney General.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He argued the office was a \u201cpopulist creation\u201d when existing institutions like CHRAJ, EOCO, the Special Branch of the Police Service, and the Attorney General\u2019s Department were already available. \u201cAll we needed to do was to empower the AG\u2019s Department. They needed resources to be able to prosecute,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Constitutional Limit: Article 88(4)<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Chairman stressed that no Act of Parliament can override the Constitution. \u201cProsecutorial power cannot be taken away from the constitutional provision in Article 88(4) and given by a parliamentary construct,\u201d he stated. \u201cAn Act of Parliament cannot take the power of a constitutional provision \u2014 that is clear and that is trite law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Article 88(4) provides that \u201call offences prosecuted in the name of the Republic of Ghana shall be at the suit of the Attorney-General or any other person authorised by him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shaibu said he was \u201csiding with the High Court\u201d on recent pronouncements limiting the OSP\u2019s prosecutorial independence, calling the court\u2019s decision \u201capt and in accordance with law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNot Useless, But Limited\u201d<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Responding to suggestions that he was dismissing the OSP\u2019s work, Shaibu clarified: \u201cI didn\u2019t say it\u2019s useless. I\u2019m just saying it\u2019s out of law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He acknowledged that the OSP, which falls under his committee, has reported on its activities and \u201cdid well\u201d in its investigations. \u201cNobody said that they have not done well by the investigations and the stuff that they have done,\u201d he said. \u201cThey still have the power to investigate. They have the power to search. What they don\u2019t have is the power to prosecute unless and until it is authorized by the AG.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Call for Constitutional Amendment<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Shaibu argued that Ghana\u2019s problem is not lack of laws but \u201cthe ability and the willpower to enforce those laws.\u201d He said \u201cwith or without the OSP, the work of searching, investigation and prosecution can still be done, and done well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He pointed to the ongoing constitutional review process as the proper avenue for change. \u201cIf anybody is minded to cede the prosecutorial powers of the AG to other institutions, this is the right time to do it,\u201d he said. \u201cCome with an amendment to Article 88(4) and say that these other institutions can prosecute. As things stand now, no other institution except the AG can prosecute, unless you are authorized by the AG to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou don\u2019t need a law student to tell you this,\u201d he added. \u201cSo the arguments that it is government \u2014 unless we don\u2019t want to respect the laws of Ghana.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Chairman drew parallels between the OSP debate and current lawmaking, warning that Parliament cannot pass Acts that conflict with the Constitution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The comments came as his committee wrapped up work on the _Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill_, which is expected to be laid before plenary when Parliament resumes in May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Source: Clement Akoloh\/parliamentnews360.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Chairman of Parliament\u2019s Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee, Hon. Mahama Shaibu, has maintained that the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) lacks constitutional authority to prosecute cases on its own, insisting that prosecutorial powers remain solely with the Attorney General under Article 88(4) of the 1992 Constitution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1532,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,8],"tags":[1196,1197,1195,1194,1193,1198],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanewsradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1531"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanewsradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanewsradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanewsradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanewsradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1531"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/africanewsradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1531\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1533,"href":"https:\/\/africanewsradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1531\/revisions\/1533"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanewsradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/africanewsradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanewsradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africanewsradio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}