BREAKING: High Court strips OSP of prosecutorial powers, giving it to the Attorney General – Details
A High Court in Accra has ruled that the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) cannot exercise prosecutorial authority independently without the approval of the Attorney General.
According to a GHOne Newscard report on Wednesday, April 15, 2026, the court further directed the Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Dr Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, to assume control of all ongoing cases currently being handled by the OSP until the required prosecutorial authorisation is duly granted.
The ruling comes amid an ongoing legal dispute at the Supreme Court involving Deputy Attorney General Justice Srem Sai, who is seeking a declaration that Section 4(2) of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959) is unconstitutional.
That provision mandates that the Attorney General must first authorise the OSP before it can prosecute corruption and corruption-related offences.
The Deputy Attorney General argues that under the 1992 Constitution, prosecutorial powers are exclusively vested in the Attorney General, and Parliament cannot, through ordinary legislation, transfer or alter those powers in favour of another body.
He further contends that while the Attorney General may delegate prosecutorial authority, such delegation does not extend to independent institutions like the OSP.
For its part, the Attorney General maintains that all criminal prosecutions initiated on behalf of the state must be conducted under his authority, in line with Article 88 of the 1992 Constitution.
The Attorney General has also filed for several declarations from the Supreme Court, including that prosecutorial powers reside solely with his office, that Parliament exceeded its mandate in enacting provisions that affect those powers, and that such authority cannot be assigned to non-natural persons such as the OSP.
