Independent Prosecutor’s Office to handle corruption – Ms Akuffo
The proposed Independent Prosecutor‘s Office under the Akufo-Addo Administration is intended to be one of the ways that will deal specifically with corruption in the public sector, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice Designate, has said.
Ms Gloria Akuffo said: “Corruption has become a worrisome problem… and has become a developmental issue. There have been a lot of calls for a solution to be found to it.
“It is true that by the Constitution the Attorney General has the power to prosecute criminal matters, but it also has the power to delegate that authority and it is under that that the office will be set up with a specific remit to deal with public sector corruption.”
Answering questions at a public hearing by the Appointments Committee of Parliament at the week-end, Ms Akuffo said the national law-making house would have to approve the proposed Independent Prosecutor to be appointed by the President.
That, she said, would engender impartiality greater public confidence in the office.
Ms Akuffo, being designated for the position of the Attorney General, is expected to handle all cases surrounding the Government, especially, those that have to do with judgment debts.
The Private Legal Practitioner, and Arbitrator, who at one time under the former Kufuor Administration, held the same portfolio and was the first female Deputy Minister of the Greater Accra Region, was named by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo earlier in the month to become his chief legal advisor.
President Akufo-Addo had described Ms Akuffo as having strong ethical approach to issues of law and social responsibility, and expressed his conviction that she would make a fine Attorney General.
She said the Independent Prosecutor would be nominated by the President and crafted in such a manner that it will not fall foul of the Constitution.
She said it was not intended to be an avenue for government to hound its opponents.
Ms Akuffo said the general public could attach some confidence to the office of the Independent Prosecutor based on how it was structured, the mode of appointment, and its security of tenure.
“These are some of the things that will give the public confidence that this is a truly independent person particularly because it will have to go to Parliament.”
The Attorney General Designate said she would take a second look at the GH¢51million paid to businessman Alfred Agbesi Woyome and do her best to recover the money for the state.
The Supreme Court has ordered Mr Woyome to refund GH¢51.2 million to the state.
State attorneys on strike would return to work on Monday, January 23, Ms Akuffo has said.
She said President Akufo-Addo had intervened in the impasse between the Association of State Attorneys and government and had succeeded in persuading them to go back to work.
“I spoke with their national president and she assured me they will be reporting, God willing, on Monday,” she said.
Source: GNA