The OSP, established by an Act of Parliament in 2017, is a unique, independent anti-corruption agency mandated unequivocally to investigate and prosecute corruption and allied offenses, recover proceeds of corruption, and assist in the prevention of corruption.
It was meant to be Ghana’s premier anti-corruption enforcer, deliberately insulated from routine political control, and designed to focus on high-level public officials, politically exposed persons, and their associates in both public and private sectors.
In effect, the OSP was born out of frustration with the longstanding limitations of traditional institutions like the Attorney-General’s Department and other anti-graft bodies, which struggled to secure credible, non-partisan prosecutions, especially when powerful interests were involved.
It represents one of those rare national admissions that the old tools are blunt and that a new, sharper and independent instrument is urgently needed in the fight against corruption by the OSP.
A history of institutional failure
Since its independence in 1957, Ghana has declared war on corruption with each emerging administration without winning the peace.
Coups and changes of regime have been justified by accusations of corruption, mismanagement and weak governance, yet every era has produced its own scandals, ranging from state capture and patronage to procurement abuses and misappropriation of public funds.
Research on the challenges of Ghana’s governance indicates that the conditions of weak bureaucracy, politicised institutions, and inadequate enforcement have enabled corruption to become persistent, almost predictable across different governments and political traditions.
The multiplicity of anti-corruption agencies and reforms created over the years has seen many of them be under-resourced, poorly coordinated, or compromised by executive influence.
This has left citizens disillusioned and cynical about official promises to fight graft.
The “scrap OSP” debate
Recent controversies involving the OSP, high-profile arrests, and confrontations with powerful figures have triggered calls in Parliament and the broader political class to repeal the law establishing the office and abolish it.
Some political leaders are reportedly arguing that the OSP is “not fit for purpose” and that its actions risk trampling on citizens’ rights, while others see it merely duplicating the work of existing bodies.
Other voices in the public sphere, however, emphasise that the problem is not the existence of the OSP but the conduct of some office holders, gaps in clear procedures and safeguards, and the broader political environment in which it operates.
Prominent commentators warn that when the political class, across partisan lines, unites to dismantle an accountability institution, citizens must ask who truly benefits from that decision and what signal it sends about the seriousness of the anti-corruption agenda.
Why Ghana should give the OSP time
No serious anti-corruption body anywhere in the world immediately starts performing effectively in less than a decade, against a backdrop of ingrained corruption and resistant institutional cultures.
Such studies as review the OSP’s performance highlight real challenges along with progress, but emphasise that reforms, clearer legal frameworks, adequate funding, and stronger internal controls are more appropriate responses than outright abolition.
Scrapping the OSP now would waste the investment already made, weaken Ghana’s credibility under international anti-corruption commitments, and signal that the country treats institutional innovation against corruption as a short-lived experiment rather than a sustained national project.
After nearly seventy years of state institutions failing to curb grand corruption, the responsible choice is not to destroy one of the few deliberately independent tools created for this battle but to make it work better through oversight, legal refinements, and patience from the very citizens in whose name it was established.
By ADAM ABDUL KADIR
Adamkadir90@gmail.com
The writer is a research scholar at Dibrugarh University, Assam, India
