Kissi Agyebeng
Parliament has approved the President’s nomination of Kissi Agyebeng for appointment as Special Prosecutor (SP) after members of the Appointments Committee of Parliament recommended to the House for approval.
He will be replacing Martin Amidu, who resigned from the position prior to the 2020 general election.
On Wednesday, April 21, 2021, President Akufo-Addo communicated to Parliament the nomination of Kissi Agyebeng as the Special Prosecutor-designate in accordance with Section 13 (3) and (8) of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959).
The Speaker, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, pursuant to Order 172 of the Standing Orders of Parliament, referred the nomination to the Appointments Committee for consideration and report.
The Committee, in the ninth report to the House, said Mr. Agyebeng met all the requirements members were looking for in a nominee for the Office of the Special Prosecutor.
The move followed the public vetting of the nominee, a criminal law lecturer, by members of the Committee on Thursday during which Mr. Agyebeng distinguished himself as an epitome of gold standard prosecutor to fight corruption.
Pursuant to Order 172 (3) of the Standing Orders of Parliament, the Committee caused for publication in newspapers with national circulation for the attention of the general public, the nominee for the Special Prosecutor and requested for memoranda to assist the Committee in its deliberation.
In a report, the Committee subsequently sought and obtained confidential reports on the nominee from the Ghana Police Service, the National Investigations Bureau (NIB) and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) as part of its background checks.
Nominee’s Responses
Mr. Agyebeng responded to criminalisation of unexplained wealth in Ghana and indicated that as part of measures to combat corruption, the crime should be clearly delineated.
According to him, for a person to lose his freedom to a jail term or pay a sum of money as a fine, the state must satisfy itself beyond all reasonable doubt that the accused person actually committed the offence.
He argued that if an accused person cannot reasonably explain the source of his wealth, that aspect of the unexplained wealth should be criminalised, and that criminal charges levelled against him in respect of explained wealth ought to be dropped.
Kissi Agyebeng asserted that pursuant to Section 2 of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959), the Special Prosecutor (SP) is mandated to investigate and prosecute specific cases of alleged or suspected corruption and corruption-related offences and to take steps to prevent corruption amongst others.
He stated that the most veritable source of corruption in Ghana is the abuse of processes and conflict of interest, intimating that if approved by the House he would make corruption very costly to engage in.
By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House