Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng has announced what he describes as the “rebirth” of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), insisting that the institution remains resilient despite sustained attacks and calls for its abolition.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, August 26, 2026, Mr Agyebeng said some public officers who should be protecting state institutions were instead working against the OSP and attempting to undermine its work.
He warned that any attempt to shut down the OSP would have broader implications for Ghana’s public institutions.
“Any attempt to shut down the OSP would mean shutting down every other public institution in the country,” he said.
Mr Agyebeng also attributed some of the calls for the abolition or weakening of the OSP to what he described as personal dislike for the occupants of key positions within the institution.
“I state with extreme reluctance that some of the attacks intended at abolishing the OSP or dimming its light stem from personal dislike against the occupant of the seat of the Special Prosecutor and the Operational Directors,” he said.
According to him, there was no evidence that the officials targeted by such criticism had engaged in any “obnoxious or untoward conduct” that would justify efforts to weaken the institution.
He described attempts to bring down a public institution established to fight corruption because of disagreements with its leadership as counterproductive to national development.
“To drive down a public institution set up to fight corruption and to actively call for its abolition out of personal dislike for the principal office holders, not arising from any unbecoming conduct but a preference for other persons to occupy such positions is the antithesis of development,” he stated.
Mr Agyebeng, who assumed office in 2021, said the OSP had faced repeated attacks but had remained resolute in carrying out its mandate.
“It is always the OSP. This is no way of building a nation. Through it all, the office has held high and been irrepressible and today I announce the rebirth of the OSP,” he declared.
The Special Prosecutor also rejected claims that the OSP had failed to deliver results or had become ineffective.
He challenged critics to subject the institution’s performance to an objective assessment based on its mandate, resources, the complexity of cases it handles and the legal constraints under which it operates.
“To those who hold the view that the OSP has achieved nothing and that it should be scrapped, your claims are testable. To those who say the OSP is ineffective, your claims are testable,” he said.
Mr Agyebeng urged critics to examine the OSP’s performance statistics and benchmark them against other institutions while taking into account differences in mandates, years of establishment, available resources and the complexity of cases handled.
He maintained that such an assessment would demonstrate that the OSP had performed creditably.
“If you do this dispassionately, it would occur to you that the OSP has performed creditably,” he said.
Mr Agyebeng further defended the OSP’s record of transparency, saying the institution has consistently made its work available for public scrutiny.
“Our performance is neither shrouded in secrecy nor obscurity. We pride ourselves with openness,” he added.