“Every day for thief man one day for master”, so the saying goes. The Courts have spoken and exposed the true Anas Aremeyaw Anas. The chickens have at long last come home to roost and to vindicate the contention of this writer since 2014 that Anas Aremeyaw Anas and his Tiger Eye PI are nothing but a scamming entity on the anti-corruption landscape of Ghana parading as anti-corruption crusaders.

Those who aspire to genuinely crusade against corruption as investigative journalists, and to lead this nation in the exercise of the executive power ought to show an example in upholding the integrity of the judicial process instead of lending their voices to the cohorts of a losing party to scandalize and bring the administration of justice into disrepute. Remember, there is abundant documentary and other evidence of who created and facilitated Anas A. Anas’s rise as an anti-corruption entrepreneur and a covert political agent with unaccountable privileges.

Our late Comrade and President Rawlings, the people of this country whom you loved so much and died for have been led into an economic mess, suffering, and poverty which is worse than what led you to risk your life to save this country and give it a viable constitution that has lasted for three decades.

Efforts and attempts by the group of non-governmental organizations called Corruption Watch Ghana, their associated friends, and lawyers to silence, intimidate, and cancel my voice from defending the 1992 Constitution in the fight against corruption within the narrow laudable objectives of the law will, and has failed. The more my person is attacked and intimidated, the more I shall use all available legal means to ensure that the Office of the Special Prosecutor does not become a rogue institution.

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 11th July 2021 without word from the President or the Office to the public. Now that the three-year tenure of the Governing Board of the Office has expired, patriotic Ghanaians need to be alert and support the Anti-Corruption Civil Society Organizations to ensure that this time round their chosen representative is sworn-in by the President when the new Board comes to be inaugurated.

Eleven months of service as Minister of Justice and Attorney General is not a record in the history of the Office of the Attorney General in Ghana. The evidence is openly on display in front of, Mr. Dame, the Attorney General’s office, that there were other Attorneys General who served in that office for less than eleven months: eleven months is not therefore a record. I am, without any regrets, proud of putting Ghana First and upholding my constitutional oath by leaving office as Attorney General fighting corruption just as I resigned as the SP from President Nana Akufo Addo’s Government on the same account of “The Family’s Corruption”.

I wish Hon. Yaw Buaben Asamoa to understand that the Office of the Special Prosecutor is governed by statute and I am mandated to lead it in the achievement of that mandate. I do not need any direct or indirect instructions from any office holder of any political party like him. It is time for him and others like him from other political parties to stop confusing the fact that I was appointed by the President of the Republic to mean that it created a vested right in the political party which supported him to win the elections to instruct or direct me as the Special Prosecutor. I was appointed by the President in his capacity as the Executive Authority of Ghana under the 1992 Constitution and not as the flag-bearer of any political party. Should he think that I am talking too much and not doing my job the simple solution is for him to have me removed from office. Until then he should leave me alone to continue to exercise the independent duties of my office in accordance with my oath before Parliament and my oath at my appointment as the Special Prosecutor.

Who is really sleeping on the job when it comes to dealing with the canker of corruption? Heads of institutions wantonly disregard statutory requests made by the Office of the Special Prosecutor for information and production of documents to assist in the investigation of corruption and corruption-related offences. Public officers have been charged, arraigned before the High Court and their pleas taken only for them to return to their workplaces and work normally as though they have never been suspected of committing any corruption offences. Despite all the powers conferred on the Office of the Special Prosecutor by the law, when heads of institutions continually refuse or fail to support the fight against the canker of corruption by not vigorously applying regulations intended to aid the fight against corruption and other crimes, they ultimately undermine the work and impact of the Office of the Special Prosecutor.

Good religious bodies are the moral and ethical compass of social and political organizations and are better adapted to the preventive role of fighting corruption: they have over the years effectively served as corruption prevention social and political organizations in Ghana. Their contributions to the establishment of the Office of the Special Prosecutor attest to their positive preventive role in the fight against corruption. The Office still needs the active support of good religious bodies not only in the prevention of corruption but also to protect its independence and give it the free room to treat corruption and corruption-related offences as purely criminal offences without fear or favour, affection or ill will. Good religious bodies cannot afford to let this last experiment in fighting corruption and corruption-related offences in Ghana be captured again by the political elite just for political point scoring. They have a spiritual and temporal obligation to ensure that the wellbeing of the nation is put above the greed and avarice of the political elite as good religious bodies have tenaciously demonstrated in Ghana over the years.

To correct recent factual misrepresentations in media and on WhatsApp, herewith my response to assure the public that while I occupy the role of Special Prosecutor, crime will always be treated as crime and no political party card can act as an insurance against investigating and/or prosecuting any offences that fall under my mandate under the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959).

The Office of the Special Prosecutor is Ghana’s new anti-corruption agency. With its prosecutorial powers, it is being seen by many as an expected solution to the problem of corruption in Ghana. However, the nation’s inability to adequately resource and guarantee the independence of law enforcement from politics has affected the fight against corruption over the years. Unless there is a change of attitude in practice, the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act may soon be seen by the public to be, like its predecessors, a delusion and not an achievement.

My response at my approval public hearing that some of my articles are based on my perceptions and opinions does not mean that they were not based on fact or reality. Those learned in research methods and intelligence know that my answers were intended for the protection of my sources and collection methods giving rise to the conclusions I arrived at in my several articles on corruption and abuse of power for private gain. The parting thoughts in this article are in recognition of the fact that as a quasi-judicial officer, after my appointment I will have to behave as a justice of the superior court will do and will henceforth be unable to answer to several unfounded criticisms.

Despite my preference for strengthening the traditional, common law and conventional independence of the Attorney General under our Anglo-American-Ghanaian system of jurisprudence; upon my examination, analysis and critique of the provisions of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Bill, 2017, I have concluded that the establishment of a permanent Office of the Special Prosecutor is legal under Article 88 of the 1992 Constitution so long as it is done under the authority of the Attorney General. However, the feasibility of establishing a permanent Office of the Special Prosecutor to deal specifically with corruption and related offences by law is premised on the exemplary moral compass and integrity of the Executive Authority personified by the elected President and his determination to give law enforcement authorities, including the Attorney General, the expected constitutional support to operate strictly in accordance with their oaths of office to be fair, transparent and impartial in the execution of their duties without fear or favour, affection or ill will. Absent such a President and public officers, no number of enactments can achieve the objective of fighting systemic corruption in Ghana. My hope is that this paper will help civil society, the active public, the Government and Parliament to give due consideration to all the factors that need to be taken into account to make the Office of the Special Prosecutor Bill, 2017 now being discussed by the Committee of Parliament during the vacation, capable of being enacted in a bi-partisan manner when Parliament resumes in October 2017.

Is someone sabotaging the President’s fight against corruption? The current enactment of the Office of the Special Public Prosecutor Bill, 2017, raises questions around the inclusion of Clause 3 sub-clause 4 of the Bill. If, as it states, the Special Prosecutor is not to investigate and prosecute corruption offences relating to the Public Procurement Act, 2003 and the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 – this lays down vague and ambiguous exceptions that can be exploited. Whoever inserted the sub-clause is legalizing an undefined species of corruption as not being serious enough to warrant prosecution ever or at all. The Bill before Parliament also has consequential amendments in Section 78 (1) that remove the offence of corruption from the jurisdiction of the Economic and Organised Crime Office. Who will then investigate and prosecute categories of corruption offences by public officers and politically exposed persons not meeting the standards in Clause 3(4)? We cannot justify any form of corruption. Let us take a keen interest in the passage of the Bill through Parliament so that Ghanaians are not short-changed in the actualization of the promise by the President to fight corruption as corruption, and crime as crime.

I invite fellow patriotic citizens to join me in condemning recent unwarranted attacks and shameful insults on the British High Commissioner and his Government, who only sought to defend the honour and dignity of Parliament as enshrined in the 1992 Constitution by pointing out past misconduct and suspected crime of some members of Parliament. The insults coming from MPs from both sides of Parliament give the impression that Parliament is more hysterical about its reputation being brought into disrepute through the exposure of dishonourable conduct by its members rather than maintaining the honour and dignity of the institution of Parliament through a transparent, fair and credible constitutional process of dealing with members who bring the reputation of the institution into disrepute.

Mr. President, Ghanaians exhibit a great deal of good will for you to succeed as President. But make haste slowly and be fairly sure of each step you take. My humble observation from some of your recent pronouncements and acts as President, however, is that you appear to trust so many people without any reservations. Your anti-corruption agenda was a winning manifesto item at the elections, and we are expecting you to implement your promises without fear or favour, affection or ill will. Many Ghanaians, like me, are not followers of your political party but as long as you continue occupying that high moral ground and fight corruption in deeds, you will succeed and your first four-year tenure will usher in the golden age of Ghana again. If you always put Ghana First in your administration, the present goodwill you enjoy will endure throughout your tenure.

Ghanaians have demanded and expect that the mandate of the 7th Parliament will be consistent with the letter and spirit of the 1992 Constitution; and the promises by the President to protect the national purse and be impartial in the governance of our dear country. The evidence of criminal and unconstitutional conduct in the whole body polity is overwhelming, but unconstitutional attempts are being made through influential chiefs and elders to let bygones be bygones. This is contrary to the demands of the Constitution for accountability, transparency and fairness in governance. May the 7th Parliament and the President remember that even walls have ears and we hear the attempts at trying to compromise the President’s anti-corruption agenda in the name of reconciliation. The President’s anti-corruption drive will be still-born with such compromises and reconciliations. May Ghanaians at the end of this 7th Parliament’s tenure be proud that it has helped to restore the underlying principles and values that Ghanaians gave to themselves the Fourth Republican Constitution, 1992.

The free market place of ideas for expression of personal opinions appears to have carried some away to assume the President-elect’s prerogative of whom he may appoint into his Government by trying to stampede him with choices for several positions within his administration. What has been and is worrying for me is that some citizens are using this natural democratic process of citizen free expression of expectations and anticipation to telephone or speak face-to-face with individual citizens to suggest that they have, are recommending or intend to recommend them to the President-Elect for particular appointments. It is not in the interest of the President-Elect, his Government or the incoming Parliament. Such actions are inevitably a harbinger of cronyism and corruption in the body polity.

Accountable and transparent answers with utmost integrity to my above claims will establish once and for all that Anas Aremeyaw Anas and his Tiger Eye PI on his website are a credible business under the laws of Ghana and not an international criminal and fraudulent scam.

Expensive plans and laws purporting to stop graft and greed in Ghana will not work without a change in the current habit of impunity on the part of the political elite. We do not need action plans and new laws to defend the anti-corruption commitments of the June 4th and 31st December revolutions under an NDC Government unless we are just finding excuses for our inaction. Human integrity has always prevailed over bribery and corruption. But we appear to lack that leadership of human integrity in this seriously deteriorating economic epoch facing our country that has resulted in mass unemployment, hardship, and poverty, particularly amongst the young and youthful citizen.