Kissi Adjebeng
The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, has nominated private legal practitioner Kissi Agyebeng for the position of Special Prosecutor.
The AG has reportedly sent a letter to the President who is considering the government’s legal advisor’s nomination to replace former Attorney General Martin Alamisi Burnes Kaiser Amidu, who resigned as Special Prosecutor on November 16, 2020.
Mr. Dame reportedly sent the letter titled “RE: Special Prosecutor Nomination Of Kissi Agyebeng” to the presidency on April 16, 2021, drawing the President’s attention to the fact that “Section 13(8) of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959) requires the President to appoint a person qualified for appointment as Special Prosecutor to that position, within six months of the Office of Special Prosecutor becoming vacant.”
“Respectfully, as you would recall, Mr. Martin Alamisi Burnes Kaiser Amidu resigned his position as Special Prosecutor on November 16, 2020,” Mr. Dame is purported to have said in the letter, adding, “By a letter dated November 17, 2020, the Honourable Chief of Staff, Akosua Frema Osei-Opare communicated Your Excellency’s acceptance of the resignation of Martin Alamisi Burnes Kaiser Amidu as Special Prosecutor.”
“In accordance with section 13(3) of Act 959, I hereby nominate Kissi Agyebeng, Esq. for appointment to the position of Special Prosecutor, subject to the approval of majority of all the Members of Parliament,” the AG reportedly said in the letter.
The letter also highlighted the track record of the nominee, saying, “Kissi Agyebeng was called to the Ghana Bar in October, 2003 and holds a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from the University of Ghana, as well as Master of Laws (LLM) degrees from Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University, Canada and Cornell Law School, USA. He has since 2006 been teaching Criminal Law at the University of Ghana, whilst also engaged in private law practice.”
“I am satisfied that Kissi Agyebeng possesses the requisite expertise on corruption and corruption-related matters, is of high moral character and proven integrity and satisfies all the other requirements stipulated in section 13(1) and (2) of Act 959,” the letter added.
Previous Appointment
In July 2019, President Akufo-Addo appointed Mr. Agyebeng, as the Chairman of the Electronic Communications Tribunal.
His role which will end in July 2022, was to oversee the affairs and adjudication of appeals at the Tribunal as stipulated in The Electronic Communications Act, 2008 (Act 775).
Cynical View
Immediately news broke that Mr. Adjebeng is likely to be nominated for the position, a member of the IMANI group, Bright Simons, threatened that the CSOs are going to oppose the appointment if Mr. Agyebeng did not come clean on his supposed role in the controversial Agyapa deal.
Appearing to present a picture as if IMANI speaks for all the CSOs, Bright Simons said on Twitter that “Mr. Agyebeng is a fine lawyer. But if he wants to be SP as reported then he must commit to recuse himself from all Agyapa matters. Given his close links to White & Case & ALA (run by Agyapa supporter, Mr. Okyere-Darko) else CSOs will oppose his appointment.”
By Ernest Kofi Adu