Editorial: The Politicians Who Want The OSP Dead Have Something To Hide

There is something deeply troubling about the move being made by the political class to abolish the very institution it created to police itself. That is the uncomfortable truth at the heart of the raging debate surrounding Ghana’s Office of the Special Prosecutor.

When the National Democratic Congress (NDC) majority in Parliament moved to scrap the OSP in 2025, it offered no compelling ideological argument, no credible fiscal justification. It simply moved, swiftly and brazenly, to shut the office down. Only the direct intervention of President John Dramani Mahama halted that shameful attempt. The OSP survived, but the episode laid bare something every Ghanaian must confront.

Speaking at a national dialogue on March 31, 2026 Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng said what this newspaper has long maintained – “Politicians don’t want us around because we are bad news for politicians.”

The Chronicle commends the Special Prosecutor for his candour. It takes courage to speak that truth from the very office that is supposed to make the powerful uncomfortable.

Kissi Agyebeng’s concern is bigger than his own tenure. He is not fighting for himself, he is fighting for an institution that Ghana desperately needs. His argument is simple and unanswerable: an anti-corruption office that survives at the discretion of politicians is by definition already compromised. The mere condition of dependence is corrosive, regardless of whether direct interference ever occurs.

Ghana’s history with the OSP confirms this. The office became operational in 2018 under Martin Amidu, a man whose integrity was never seriously questioned, and who resigned in November 2020 citing political interference. The groundwork he laid came at great personal cost.

Under Kissi Agyebeng, the office has built impressively on that foundation. It recovered over GH?125 million through reformed Ghana Revenue Authority auction processes, disrupted a $40 million counterfeiting syndicate, halted GH?34.25 million in fraudulent payroll payments, prosecuted the former Chief Executive of the Public Procurement Authority and launched the Ghana Corruption League Table to systematically measure corruption risk across public institutions. Two Special Prosecutors – two administrations – the same relentless pattern of political pressure. That is not coincidence. That is deliberate sabotage dressed in parliamentary procedure.

The Chronicle used this column repeatedly last year to condemn the NDC majority’s attempt to dismantle the OSP and we make no apology for returning to it today. The question we posed then remains unanswered: who benefits if the OSP is scrapped? The ordinary Ghanaian who wakes up every morning to hustle for a living certainly does not. The trader at Makola, the teacher in Tamale, the fisherman in Elmina, none of them gain anything from a weakened anti-corruption office. Only those with something to hide stand to benefit.

The wider cost of corruption to this country is staggering. The Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition estimates that corruption drains approximately $3 billion from our economy annually. Ghana has returned to the International Monetary Fund seventeen times, spending roughly 40 of its 68 years of independence under IMF programmes.

We have seen politicians arrive in office with modest means and depart with assets that no salary could ever explain. These things are connected. A nation haemorrhaging billions to elite greed while its citizens struggle to put food on the table is not suffering from misfortune. It is suffering from the consequences of unchecked corruption.

We will concede one point – the OSP is not above scrutiny and indeed no institution is. Its claims of achievement deserve independent verification and it must remain answerable to transparent performance standards. Integrity must be structural, not merely proclaimed.

That said, the case for protecting the OSP is overwhelming. The constitutional review process now underway presents Ghana with a historic opportunity to enshrine the OSP beyond the reach of any parliamentary majority or presidential preference.

More than 70% of Ghanaians want an independent anti-corruption body. More than 50% trust the OSP above every other institution to lead that fight. The people know what they want. The question is whether their representatives will listen.

Civil Society Organisations must rise to this moment. The survival of the OSP cannot be left to the goodwill of presidents or the conscience of parliamentarians who have already shown where their loyalties lie.

The Chronicle has said it before and will say it again – whoever moves to undermine the OSP is an enemy of this republic. Ghana has given corruption far too much time and far too much money. It is time to fight back.

The post Editorial: The Politicians Who Want The OSP Dead Have Something To Hide appeared first on The Ghanaian Chronicle.

Read Full Story