Parliament has suspended the approval of the 2023 budgetary allocation for the Office of Special Prosecutor.
Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu alleges that Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, has made unconstitutional appointments to the office and any allocation made to pay such persons will be unlawful.
“I am strongly arguing that any appointment other than those done by the president be deemed illegal and unconstitutional,” he told the House on Friday.
This follows allegations by the former Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu to the effect that Mr. Agyebeng has appointed some persons to the office without recourse to public service procedures.
Speaking in Parliament, Mr Iddrisu explained that no compensation can be appropriated to this creation.
This comes a day after exclusive documents available to JoyNews revealed that Mr Agyebeng and his staff had not been paid salaries since his appointment 16 months ago.
According to the said documents, only the Deputy Special Prosecutor has been paid; leaving other staff of the office agitated.
The documents further disclosed that the former Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu is owed salary arrears.
Reacting to this development, the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, says the situation can potentially derail the fight against corruption since the unpaid staff are left in a vulnerable state.
However, Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu raised some questions as to the validity of the claims made by the Minority Leader.
He further criticised government for not paying the staff at the Special Prosecutor’s office.
“We need to provide him with adequate remuneration such that he will not be exposed and be tempted to be courted. If that should happen Mr Speaker, this nation will be in serious trouble,” he said on Friday.
The Speaker, Alban Bagbin, thereby deferred the approval of the OSP’s budget.
Source: Myonline.com