Participants at a regional dialogue on the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) in Sunyani have urged a review of Ghana’s plea bargaining law under Act 1079. They propose that offenders who opt for plea bargaining should serve at least one year in prison in addition to refunding stolen funds, arguing that refunds alone are not a sufficient deterrent and may even encourage corruption.
The event, organized by CDD-Ghana in collaboration with the OSP, aimed to strengthen accountability institutions and public engagement in anti-corruption reforms. It brought together stakeholders including civil society groups, policymakers, media, traditional leaders, and youth representatives.
Participants also validated findings from an eight-year assessment of the OSP and called for reforms to enhance its effectiveness and independence. Key recommendations included decentralizing OSP operations to improve public access for reporting corruption, granting the office stronger legal powers, especially to tackle political corruption, and introducing an annual “OSP Day” to raise awareness.
The Bono regional dialogue was also to deepen stakeholder understanding of the OSP framework, identify gaps within the existing legal regime, and build consensus around necessary reforms.
Decentralize OSP’s work
During an open forum as part of the programme, some participants called for the decentralization of the work of the OSP to bring the office closer to the people.
This will ensure that a lot more people will find it easier to report suspected acts of corruption for swift action to be taken against them and to curtail further corrupt deals at the local level.
They further said it is about time the OSP was given more power legally to fight corruption, especially among the political class.
A lecturer of the University of Ghana and a consultant, Dr. Zechariah Langnel and Mr. Bright Sowu, an official of the Office of the Special Prosecutor took turns to explain various aspects of the OSP’s work since its establishment about eight years ago.
The event is being organized across the country with support from the Participation, Accountability and Integrity for a Resilient Democracy (PAIReD) programme, commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), co-financed by the European Union (EU) and the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and implemented by GIZ in partnership with the Ministry of Finance.
