Paranoia is a condition which makes a person feel not liked by others. In extreme cases, the victim thinks he is a target of assassination by those who detest him or her.
It is time to examine whether or not our own Special Prosecutor (SP) is a victim of paranoia. His tenure appears to have been dogged with alarms from his end about being targeted by unidentified persons.
We recall the narrative from broadcast journalist Gordon Asare-Bediako when he said he heard from a conversation about Kissi Agyebeng eyeing a private jet because of an attempt to eliminate him. The jet would facilitate the performance of his assignments and protect him from ground attacks. The broadcast journalist was only discussing what he said he heard from a source. He was arrested by the SP and a hefty bail condition slapped on him.
Conversations also centered earlier on a request by the SP for armoured vehicles because of the high security risk surrounding his anti-corruption assignments, delivery of which vehicles are said to have been made.
We are unable to determine the procurement procedures underpinning the acquisition of the said vehicles and their specifications.
The foregone are intended to suggest a seeming paranoia haunting the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) since Kissi Agyebeng took over the throttles at the state anti-corruption entity.
The SP’s Director of Strategy, Research and Communication, Samuel Appiah Darko’s claim that his boss was the target of two assassination attempts and that he was once handcuffed by 17 police personnel shocked the nation.
Preliminary investigations indicate that the claims were not reported to any of the security agencies although they happened last year. It beats imagination how so many personnel would descend upon one man who cannot pass for a hefty person and as though he resisted arrest.
Our SP needs support and we are glad that the Interior Minister is ready to offer one through the probe he has ordered. Given the fact that all Ghanaians should live bereft of apprehension of being targeted for assassination, we ask that the investigation into the claim be undertaken under a certificate of urgency and the reports thereof laid bare for all Ghanaians to behold.
The SP also claimed that he was unable to arrest the former Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta because he was apprehensive of the reaction of the then President Akufo-Addo.
Being the Special Prosecutor and with adequate evidence of corruption or other criminal engagements, not executing what was required of him under the circumstances constituted incompetence.
The OSP has attracted too much bad press and would need an overhaul so it can perform creditably. Many have called for the scrapping of the office and its personnel distributed among existing relevant state agencies such as the Legal Aid Commission, and Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ). We do not have any objection to such suggestions.
For now, we await the outcome of the investigation anxiously.