Special Prosecutor’s Office Secures First Convictions Since Beginning Work in 2018
- The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has recorded its first convictions since being set up in 2018
- One of the convictions relates to the trial of Charles Bissue, former secretary of the defunct Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining
- The special prosecutor is currently investigating several high-profile cases, including one involving former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta
The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has recorded its first convictions since its creation in 2018.
Joy News reported that it has secured seven convictions through plea bargains.
Source: Facebook
Six of the convictions involve payroll fraud uncovered in the Northern Region.
The seventh relates to the trial of Charles Bissue, former secretary of the defunct Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining.
The second accused in that case has been convicted and is reportedly cooperating with prosecutors in the ongoing proceedings against Bissue.
In the first half of 2025 alone, the special prosecutor has opened 70 new investigations. This marks a sharp increase from previous years.
The office initiated only two cases each in 2020 and 2021. That figure rose to 13 in 2022, 19 in 2023, and 27 in 2024.
The current surge brings the cumulative total to at least 133 cases since the special prosecutor began operations.
The office was allocated GH¢146 million in the 2025 budget.
In comments on the allocation, Alfred Appiah, an applied economist and data analyst, noted that Ghanaians needed to see more output from the special prosecutor, which is noted to be underperforming.
"According to its performance measurement framework, it planned to complete 40 investigations in 2024, but completed just 2. It also planned to initiate 2 prosecutions but initiated none."
"So yes, I need to see actual results to be moved. All the media dramatisation and theatrics don’t matter until the office starts delivering tangible outcomes relative to the amount of taxpayer cedis going its way."
The special prosecutor is currently investigating several high-profile cases, including some involving former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, the controversial Ghana Revenue Authority–SML revenue scandal and former National Petroleum Authority Chief Executive Dr Mustapha Abdul-Hamid.
What is Ghana's plea bargaining regime?
Plea bargaining refers to a process in the criminal justice system where an accused person negotiates an agreement to relinquish the right to go to a full trial in exchange for a more lenient sentence or some other benefit.
Ghana allows for plea bargaining arrangements in criminal jurisprudence.
Provisions in the law that allow for plea bargaining include section 239 of the Criminal and Other Offences (Procedure) Act, 1960 (Act 30); section 35 of the Courts Act, 1993 (Act 459); section 71 of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959); and section 47 of the Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019).
Source: Getty Images
The passage of the Criminal and Other Offences (Procedure) Amendment Bill, 2021, also provided new avenues for pleas.
In June 2022, Parliament passed the Bill to amend the Criminal and Other Offences (Procedure Act), 1960 (Act 30), to formally incorporate plea bargaining firmly into the administration of justice in Ghana for the first time.
Ghana battled corruption perception under Akufo-Addo
YEN.com.gh reported that in 2024, Ghana's corruption rating failed to improve on the perception index for 2023.
Ghana scored 43 out of 100 and ranked 70 out of 180 countries, continuing the trend of no progress that continued into last year.
The last time Ghana made progress on the corruption index was in 2019, when it ranked 80th with 41 points as its score.
During his victorious campaign to become president, President John Mahama pledged to crack down on all corruption.
Proofreading by Samuel Gitonga, copy editor at YEN.com.gh.
Source: YEN.com.gh
