The President’s Municipal Chief Executive nominee for Juaben in the Ashanti Region, Alex Safo Kantanka, will later this week face the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng over allegations of bribery and corruption against him.
On Monday November 2, 2021, assembly members of Juaben gathered for the second time to confirm the President’s nominee, Alex Safo Kantanka, after the first attempt failed.
However, the nominee failed to obtain the required number votes for confirmation.
Following his rejection, the nominee was captured in a video demanding from some assembly members monies he was alleged to have given in return for their votes.
https://corruptionwatchghana.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/kissi-agyabeng.jpg512410adminhttps://corruptionwatchghana.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/CW-logo-100by80.pngadmin2021-11-08 15:11:232021-11-08 15:12:56‘Rejected’ Juaben MCE nominee to face Special Prosecutor on Tuesday over bribery allegations
A group of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) working on anti-corruption and good governance issues in the country are calling on President Akufo-Addo to make the necessary funding available to resource the Office of the Special Prosecutor to execute his mandate effectively.
The group of CSOs on October 26, 2021, had a meeting with the Special Prosecutor (SP), Mr. Kissi Agyebeng, at his office at Ridge, Accra.
The meeting, called at the instance of the SP was to deliberate on how best the OSP can work with CSOs to engender a public space where corruption can be made a high risk and low reward activity.
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The Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability (ASEPA) has petitioned the Special Prosecutor, Mr Kissi Agyebeng to investigate circumstances that led to the contractual agreement between the Frontiers Health Services contract and the Ghana Airport Company Limited with regards to the mandatory COVID-19 testing at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA).
The Frontiers Health Services was contracted to conduct mandatory COVID-19 tests for travelers at the airport at a cost of $150 per head.
There have been several concerns about the contractual agreement and cost of the test among others.
Latest to join the fray of concerned citizens is ASEPA.
President Akufo-Addo, on Thursday, August 5, officially swore into office, Kissi Agyebeng as the Special Prosecutor.
The 43-year-old Lawyer takes over from Martin Amidu who resigned from office in November 2020 after accusing the President of interference in his work.
Mr. Agyebeng was vested with the new authority on Thursday at the Jubilee House in the presence of the Chief of Staff, Attorney General, other government officials, and some traditional leaders.
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President Akufo-Addo has tasked the newly appointed Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, to fight corruption independently and impartially.
“I ask the new Special Prosecutor to bear in mind at all times that the Office carries an extraordinary responsibility to fight corruption independently and impartially. Indeed all institutions of state will work and cooperate with him in the same spirit which he articulated at his approval proceedings in Parliament,” President Akufo-Addo said this during the swearing-in of Kissi Agyebeng at the Jubilee House Thursday.
The public must be reminded that the three-year mandate of the Governing Board of the Office of the Special Prosecutor expired at midnight on 11″ July 2021 without word from the President or the Office to the public.
On Thursday, 12th July 2018 the Board of the Governing Board of the Office of the Special Prosecutor was sworn in by the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, supposedly to make “the anti-corruption body now, fully ready to execute its mandate” (July 12, GNA).
The Ghana Integrity Initiative has asked government to show more commitment to the fight against corruption to build trust and public confidence.
“We have not seen much leadership in the fight against corruption in the country. We need to see bold initiatives from government through effective preventive mechanism against corruption and administrative sanction to deter potential corrupt officials”.
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Anti-Corruption campaigner and Executive Director of Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), Vitus Azeem says he is not sure of the capacity of the Council of State in the fight against corruption.
He believes the Council can only contribute to the fight as an advisory body but has no powers to fight the menace as stated by President Akufo-Addo during their (Council of State) swearing-in ceremony.
This country set up the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) with the hope that it can deal with grand corruption of politically exposed persons; and, for a long time we waited for the OSP to bite. Therefore, it was refreshing when Mr Amidu released the report of an analysis of the risk of corruption in the Agyapa Minerals Royalties transaction.
It was instructive because it was the first time that an independent anti-corruption agency established by any government in Ghana had undertaken an analysis of the risk of corruption and anti-corruption risk assessment of the processes leading up to the approval by parliament of public agreements as part of its statutory mandate.
Alas! The celebration lasted for only two weeks. On Monday, 16th November 2020, Mr Martin A.B.K. Amidu resigned from his post as Special Prosecutor. On Tuesday, President Akufo-Addo, through Chief of Staff Hon. Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, wrote back to Mr Amidu to accept his resignation.
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President of IMANI Ghana, Franklin Cudjoe has suggested that the Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu be more focused on the assessment of the controversial Agyapa royalties deal, instead of looking solely at the corruption aspect.
According to him, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have, on several occasions, proven the real value of the royalties, pegging it between $2.5 billion to $3.5 billion.
Taking to his Facebook page to make his submission on the topic, Franklin Cudjoe said “I sincerely hope the Special Prosecutor is focused on the valuation of AGYAPA royalties. That is the most important issue, not the ‘corruption’ angle he seems to be interested in because frankly, he could simply pass the deal should documents he claims he hasn’t had, be handed to him. He must speak to the technical matter of valuation. CSOs have demonstrated enormous technical competence to show that the real value of the royalties for the assets under consideration is between $2.5bn to $3.5bn not the proposed and contracted $1bn by the finance ministry. I am watching the SP paaaa… He can reach out”.
His comments come after the Finance Ministry announced on Monday, October 5, 2020, the suspension of the launch of the Initial Public Offering (IPO) of the Agyapa Royalties deal.
In a letter signed by the Deputy Finance Minister, Charles Adu-Boahen and addressed to the Office of the Special Prosecutor, it noted that the decision was resultant of a pending completion of a corruption risk assessment by the Office of the Special Prosecutor.
https://corruptionwatchghana.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Franklin-Cudjoe.jpg280480adminhttps://corruptionwatchghana.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/CW-logo-100by80.pngadmin2020-10-08 15:07:172020-10-08 15:20:45Agyapa deal: Focus on the valuation not corruption angle - Franklin Cudjoe to Special Prosecutor
