OSP must resign after new president is elected - Barker- Vormawor

Private legal practitioner, and human rights and social justice advocate, Oliver Barker-Vormawor has stated that the Special Prosecutor should resign when a new president is elected. His assertion comes as part of concerns about the Office of the Special Prosecutor's (OSP) handling of the Charles Adu Boahen and Airbus reports.

Barker-Vormawor in a social media post made today, August 11, 2024, criticized the reports for lacking meticulousness and commitment.

After reviewing both the Charles Adu Boahen Report and the Airbus Report, Barker-Vormawor expressed dissatisfaction with the quality of work produced by the OSP. He described the reports as shoddy and questioned the office's understanding of its role in these significant cases.

"I have to be frank. I have seen the Charles Adu Boahen Report; and I have seen the Airbus Report. I am unable to accept that the OSP has been either meticulous, committed and/ or understands sufficiently the gravity of its role. Both reports score shoddy work to me!" he wrote.

Barker-Vormawor speculated that the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, might be fatigued or disheartened by the challenges of his role and suggested that Agyebeng should consider resigning, ideally after a new president is elected, to allow for a fresh perspective and renewed commitment to the office's critical work.

"Again, to be clear, I am not pronouncing on anyone’s guilt or otherwise. Just the porousness of the work the OSP did. I think Kissi is either tired or dejected. He needs to resign. Hopefully not under mapam. But as soon as a new president is elected, he needs to hand in his resignation." he stated.

On January 31, 2020, Ghana was identified as one of five countries where Airbus SE, a global aerospace corporation, allegedly engaged in bribery or made payments to high-ranking officials in exchange for business favours between 2009 and 2015.

This revelation came from the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and led to Airbus agreeing to a record of £3 billion settlement with authorities in France, the United Kingdom, and the United States to avoid corporate criminal charges.

In response to the scandal, President Akufo-Addo referred the matter to the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) for investigation. Martin Amidu, the former Special Prosecutor, identified former President John Dramani Mahama as the official referred to as ‘Government Official 1’ in the UK SFO’s report. This claim was echoed by the New Patriotic Party (NPP), but Mr. Mahama denied the allegations, and no conclusive evidence was found to implicate him.

Recently, however, the OSP has confirmed that former President Mahama is indeed the individual designated as Government Official 1 (GO1) in the Airbus scandal. Speaking at a press conference in Accra on Thursday, August 8, the current Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, also identified Samuel Mahama, the former president’s brother, as Intermediary 5 in the scandal.

During the briefing, the OSP provided a summary of its investigations, confirming that while Mr Mahama was identified as GO1 in the UK court documents and as Individual 1 in the US, there was no evidence that he played any role in the corruption scandal that trailed the acquisition.