The Minority Caucus in Parliament has called for the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Dr Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, to be summoned before the House to clarify his stance on the recent High Court ruling that stripped the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) of its prosecutorial powers.
The Caucus has also urged the OSP to immediately appeal the decision, apply for a stay of execution, and proceed to the Supreme Court of Ghana with a writ of certiorari to quash the ruling.
On April 15, 2026, an High Court of Ghana in Accra held that the OSP does not have independent authority to prosecute criminal cases and directed that all such cases be referred to the Attorney-General’s Department.
Addressing a press conference in Parliament yesterday, the Deputy Ranking Member on the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee and Member of Parliament for Gushegu, Alhassan Tampuli Sulemana, described the ruling as unconstitutional.
He cited what he termed a troubling sequence of events leading up to the judgment, including criticisms of the OSP by Martin Kpebu and a proposed Private Member’s Bill by Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga and Majority Chief Whip Rockson Etse Dafeamekpo seeking to scrap the OSP.
He described these developments as “weapons used to destroy the office.”
Quoting Article 139(1) of the 1992 Constitution, Mr Sulemana argued that only the Supreme Court has exclusive original jurisdiction in matters relating to constitutional interpretation and enforcement.
“The High Court does not share that jurisdiction. It cannot exercise it and cannot, by the device of a quo warranto application, reach a result that is in substance a declaration that provisions of an Act of Parliament are unconstitutional,” he said.
He further questioned the position of President John Dramani Mahama, despite his public support for the OSP.
“President Mahama must come clean with Ghanaians. He cannot continue to claim publicly that he supports the OSP while his own Attorney-General argues for its constitutional destruction in the Supreme Court. The President must choose publicly whether he stands for the OSP or supports efforts to dismantle it,” he stressed.
The Minority also urged the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, not to be intimidated by the ruling, assuring him of their full backing.
“The NPP will not be a passive witness to this project. We will pursue every parliamentary, constitutional and legal avenue available. We will engage the Ghanaian public with clarity on what is being done to their institutions. We will not rest until this campaign is exposed, resisted and defeated,” he added.
BY BENJAMIN ARCTON-TETTEY
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