Private legal practitioner Martin Kpebu has said the corruption allegations that have been made against the Special Prosecutor Mr Kissi Agyebeng by his predecessor Martin Amidu should be taken seriously. Kpebu said Mr Amidu, also a former Attorney-General, could not have made these allegations out of nothing.
Speaking on the Key Points on TV3 on Saturday, December 16, Kpebu said “Let us watch it, Martin Amidu in the last episode raised corruption allegations against Mr Agyebeng, let us watch it. “Such an allegation from Amidu against Mr Agyebeng deserves great attention. Please let us watch it, maybe it is about time to set up ‘who watches the watchman’ to watch over the OSP,” he said.
Mr Amidu had accused Kissi Agyebeng of deploying “McCarthyism and witch-hunting tactics” in his office, which shows he (Agyebeng) lacks the honour and integrity to lead the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP).
He said while reacting to Kissi Agyebeng’s criticism of the court after his case Labiaca case was thrown out and OSP fined GH¢10,000.
He said “The Special Prosecutor of the Office of the Special Prosecutor, William Kissi Agyebeng, has since assuming office on 9 August 2021 incrementally demonstrated both in the internal management of the OSP and the executions of the functions of the OSP that he lacks any honour and integrity to be above suspicion in leading an incorruptible OSP.
“Unfortunately, the Special Prosecutor has demonstrated time and time again that he is an unrepentant personification of McCarthyism and witch-hunting who has no respect for the 1992 Constitution, and the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959) and the two subsidiary legislations I spent the balance of the first year of the OSP in 2018 facilitating to be enacted to enable the operationalization of the OSP.
“The latest display of witch-hunting and McCarthyism was on 29 November 2023 when the Special Prosecutor called his rented press and media to incite the media and the public maliciously and intentionally against the judicial branch of government simply because of an adverse ruling by the High Court in the Republic v 1. The Office of the Special Prosecutor 2. Emmanuel Amadu Basintale, Ex Parte 1. Col. Kwadwo Damoah 2. Joseph Adu Kyei, Suit No. GJ/1232/2022, High Court (General Jurisdiction 5), Accra, 27 November 2023 (Unreported) granting an application for certiorari and prohibition against the OSP,” he wrote.
The former attorney said that any serious prosecutor would have waited for the full judgment of the court and filed an appeal if he thinks the court erred but Kusi Agyebeng organized a press conference to castigate the judiciary.
“Kissi Agyebeng who was not in the High Court when the handwritten ruling in Ex Parte Damoah was read, and without professionally and ethically waiting for a certified true copy of the ruling of the court as required of any experienced and ethical lawyer of integrity summoned his rented press and media two days after the ruling of the court in a style typical of McCarthyism and witch-hunting as though the court, judge, and the administration of justice were the obstacle to his inability to lead the OSP to professionally fight corruption in accordance with the due process of law.”
Amidu also said that the full judgement shows that the court was right to dismiss the case of the special prosecutor because it lacked merit. He added that the court’s ruling is a vindication of his early description of the “Labianca Report as being hollow and having been made without a mandate by the OSP”.
By: Laud Nartey
