{"id":105627,"date":"2025-12-06T14:22:29","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T14:22:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=105627"},"modified":"2025-12-06T14:22:29","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T14:22:29","slug":"osp-should-be-a-department-under-the-ags-office-elikem-kotoko","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=105627","title":{"rendered":"OSP should be a department under the AG\u2019s office \u2013 Elikem Kotoko"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>2 Minute, 17 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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Deputy Chief Executive of the Forestry Commission, Elikem Kotoko, says the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) should not exist as an independent institution but rather operate as a department under the Office of the Attorney-General.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Prime Insight <\/em>on Joy Prime on Saturday, December 6, during discussions on the arrest and detention of lawyer Martin Kpebu and the renewed calls for the scrapping of the OSP, Mr Kotoko said the structure of the Office was flawed from the beginning.<\/p>\n

\u201cI suggested over here the last time, and I want to reiterate further that the Office of the Special Prosecutor could even be created as a special unit or department under the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General, and it will function.\u201d<\/p>\n

He argued that maintaining the OSP as an independent institution had become wasteful and ineffective.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow we are spending millions on somebody who is moving about with military men and trying to intimidate everybody,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Kotoko added that fear among the public had also weakened open criticism of the OSP.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason why many even fear talking about him now is that a lot of people feel they may have some cobwebs in their wardrobe. So they don\u2019t want to go after Kissi Agyeben,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He insisted that the OSP is failing in its purpose and damaging public confidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is why I\u2019m repeating here that Kissi Agyeben is a coward and what he is doing is tarnishing the image of the office,\u201d he claimed.<\/p>\n

Mr Kotoko said recent actions of the OSP, particularly the arrest of lawyer Martin Kpebu, confirmed long-standing concerns about the institution\u2019s relevance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI support Parliament fully that we should scrap that office and I have maintained, because in the NDC for instance, it has been maintained that there was no need for that office.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Mr Kpebu\u2019s arrest was unacceptable and reflected poor judgment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat he did with Martin Kpebu was the last straw to break the camel\u2019s back\u2026 one would have thought that he, being a lawyer, would have been wise enough to know that what happened there was a no-no,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Kotoko said that the problem was not the concept of investigating political corruption, but the structure and leadership of the OSP.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Office of the Special Prosecutor, I believe the problem is not with the office itself; it is the personality. However, my strongest view has been that \u2013 that should have been created as a department under the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General. Then they can perform those functions very well\u2026 but to have it on its own and dissipating the public like the way it is\u2026,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"OSPDeputy Chief Executive of the Forestry Commission, Elikem Kotoko, has said the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) should not exist as an independent institution but rather operate as a department under the Office of the Attorney-General.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[789,1883,13461,335,10,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-elikem-kotoko","category-national","category-office-of-the-attorney-general","category-osp","category-politics","category-popular"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=105627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105627\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=105627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=105627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=105627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}