SP Kissi Agyebeng (left) and former SP Martin Amidu
Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng has lamented funding headaches for his office noting that without adequate funds his office will suffer dire negative consequences.
According to him, the good intentions of himself and the staff will “remain just good intentions with nothing concrete to show for it,” without the necessary funds to operate.
He was speaking on the occasion of the International Anti-Corruption Day that is commemorated annually on December 9.
In a statement issued by the Office of The Special Prosecutor, Agyebeng said: “I look forward to the provision of adequate funding and the necessary material resources as stipulated in Articles 6 and 36 of the Convention to carry out this most challenging and solemn mandate.
“I cannot help but state that without adequate funding and the provision of the necessary material resources, the good intentions of my staff and I would remain just good intentions with nothing concrete to show for it.”
He, however, reserved some praise for the government relative to office space for the OSP.
“The assignment and full dedication by the Government of a ten-storey building at South Ridge, Accra for the sole use of the OSP and the steps taken and being taken by the Office of the President and the Chief of Staff in the establishment and maintenance of the OSP are highly commendable and a testament to a commitment to the fight against corruption,” the statement added.
His views are similar to those that were repeatedly drummed by his predecessor and pioneer Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu.
The former Attorney General after taking office stated in interviews how his office was woefully underresourced hampering critical work that they are mandated by law to execute.
In one interview, he stated difficulties that his office was suffering relative to accessing 2019 budgetary allocation to the OSP.
“You say you have given GH¢180 million. I cannot access the GH¢180 million because as we speak today, my office has not been classified for procurement purposes.
“So I cannot procure cars myself, I cannot procure equipment myself. I can procure nothing,” he said in an interview dubbed ‘Time With David.’
Amidu advanced that under-resourcing constitutionally mandated anti-corruption bodies make nonsense of the fight against the canker.
He defended the OSP’s ‘inaction’ after the initial fanfare of his assumption of office blaming it on the lack of resources.
“Give me the chance to perform and then call me whatever names you want if I don’t deliver,” Amidu who quit the job in 2020 challenge.