The Akufo-Addo government has reportedly slashed the budget of the office of the special prosecutor from a whooping 1.2 billion cedis to a meagre 80 million cedis.
This came to light during a meeting that anti-corruption civil society organizations had had with the OSP to deliberate on solidarity to fight corruption.
Meanwhile, after the latest meeting between the new OSP, Kissi Agyabeng and the civil society organization, the group issued a statement saying: “We are dismayed to hear that of the GHS1.2 billion that was budgeted for capital and recurrent expenditure, only GHS80 million was allocated for the 2022 financial year representing only 6.6% of what was requested. This is far below what was even allocated by the government in the 2018 financial year for the setting up of the Office, although the money was never accessed.”
The CSOs continued: “We acknowledge that the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted negatively on government resources and there are many essential competing needs. Nonetheless, we urge the government to do its best to ensure the OSP is finally able to get off the ground so it can do its important integrity building and anti-corruption work, an agenda that the President and the New Patriotic Party have identified as a key development priority if Ghana is to transform and go beyond aid,” the CSOs said in a statement.
Source: GhanaFeed.Com