Speaker urges decoupling of Office of Attorney-General from Justice Ministry

Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, the Speaker of Parliament, has recommended the decoupling of the Office of the Attorney-General from the Ministry of Justice as part of efforts to combat corruption in the country.

He said the functions of the Office of the Attorney-General and the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) overlapped significantly, making the creation of the OSP an act in futility.

The Speaker made the suggestion in his remarks on the floor of Parliament during the House’s consideration of the “Promotion of Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values, 2021”.

The object of the “Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2022″ is to provide for proper human sexual rights and Ghanaian Family Values proscribe lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ+) and related activities.

Speaker Bagbin noted that the OSP’s authority overlapped significantly with that of the Attorney-General’s Office, thereby leading to a potential redundancy and inefficiencies.

“As for the law you passed on the establishment of the Special Prosecutor, I did tell you that it was an act in futility. You were not going to achieve anything from that, but you went ahead to pass it. I disagreed with you, but I was alone,” Speaker Bagbin said.

This, he said, was because he was very clear that authority was embedded in the powers of the Attorney-General constitutionally.

Source: GNA