The Accra High Court has ruled that the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) lacks independent prosecutorial authority, ordering that all cases it initiates be referred to the Attorney-General’s Department.

Delivered on Wednesday (April 15, 2026), the ruling throws ongoing OSP prosecutions into uncertainty, placing them on hold pending further legal direction.

Presiding judge, Justice John Eugene Nyadu Nyante, ruled that although the OSP can investigate corruption-related offences, it does not have the constitutional mandate to prosecute them independently.

The court relied on Article 88 of the 1992 Constitution, which assigns prosecutorial authority to the Attorney-General.

The case stemmed from a quo warranto application by Peter Achibold Hyde, who challenged the OSP’s prosecutorial powers.

Reacting swiftly, the OSP criticised the ruling, insisting the High Court had overstepped its jurisdiction, and announced plans to challenge the decision.

“The OSP states that it is taking steps to quickly overturn the decision of the General Jurisdiction Court since the High Court does not have jurisdiction to, in effect, strike down parts of an Act of Parliament as unconstitutional. It is only the Supreme Court which can strike down parts of an Act of Parliament as unconstitutional,” the OSP stated.

Earlier, the Attorney General took a firm legal stance against the OSP, filing arguments at the Supreme Court to strike down provisions of the OSP Act, 2017 (Act 959) that grant the agency independent prosecutorial authority.

In an affidavit filed on Wednesday, April 8, 2026, in the constitutional case of Adamtey v. Attorney General, the AG contends that the legal framework allowing the OSP to initiate criminal proceedings without express authorisation from the Attorney-General violates the 1992 Constitution.

Central to the dispute is Article 88, which vests all prosecutorial powers of the Republic exclusively in the Attorney-General.