The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has urged the public not to measure its effectiveness solely by how quickly it announces arrests or commences and concludes prosecutions, arguing that corruption cases require extensive investigations, forensic analysis and painstaking efforts to establish credible evidence.
In its Ninth Half-Yearly Report, covering the operations of the Office from January 1 to August 31, 2026, the OSP said corruption cases were among the most difficult to prove and required considerable time, adequate resources and cooperation across jurisdictions.
“These cases cannot be judged simply by how swiftly an arrest is announced or a prosecution is commenced and concluded,” the report stated.
The Office explained that corruption investigations required the painstaking examination of credible information, forensic analysis and the establishment of evidence capable of supporting successful prosecutions.
It maintained that the effectiveness of specialised anti-corruption institutions depended on more than the strength of their legal mandates, identifying operational certainty, institutional independence, adequate resources and cooperation with other law enforcement agencies as essential requirements.
The position forms part of the OSP’s account of its work during a reporting period in which it said legal challenges to its prosecutorial mandate significantly hampered its investigative and prosecutorial activities.
Despite the disruption, the Office said it had continued reviewing cases under investigation and at trial, uncovering additional evidence of wrongdoing in some cases and identifying more suspects in others.
It also announced plans to refile some of its major pending cases based on evidence uncovered during the reviews.
“We will refile some of the pending major cases based on our discoveries,” the report stated.
The Office did not identify the specific cases it intended to refile in the section outlining these developments.
The planned refiling follows a period of legal uncertainty over the OSP’s prosecutorial powers. On July 29, 2026, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Office’s prosecutorial mandate in Noah Ephraem Tetteh Adamtey v. Attorney-General, overturning contrary decisions by lower courts.
The OSP said the legal challenges had disrupted its investigations and prosecutions, with proceedings in several courts stalled or adjourned pending the Supreme Court’s determination. Beyond the challenges associated with investigations and prosecutions, the Special Prosecutor called for closer collaboration among institutions involved in the fight against corruption.
The report urged sister investigative, intelligence and prosecutorial institutions to cooperate, share intelligence and work together, arguing that effective anti-corruption efforts depended partly on meaningful collaboration among the relevant agencies.
“It is one Republic of Ghana we all work for, so let us make her great and strong,” the Special Prosecutor stated.
