Accra, Ghana//-The Supreme Court on May 19th granted the 14 Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) application to join as amici curiae in the ongoing case challenging the constitutionality of aspects of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959).
The 14 CSOs comprising Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Transparency International Ghana, the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC), Democracy Hub LBG, STAR-Ghana Foundation, NORSAAC, Penplusbytes, the Africa Center for Energy Policy (ACEP), Odekro Parliamentary Monitoring Organisation, A Rocha Ghana, Parliamentary Network Africa (PN Africa), IMANI-Africa, the One Ghana Movement, and Africa Education Watch, thanked the Supreme Court for granting their request.
“We thank the Supreme Court for the grant of leave and acknowledge the Attorney-General’s decision not to oppose our application to intervene”.
“The grant of our request allows us to place before the Court the considered views of the coalition on the history of the sustained civic advocacy, policy deliberations and legislative processes that culminated in the creation of the Office of the Special Prosecutor”, they said in a press release.
The grant of leave to intervene in the matter also allows us to draw the Court’s attention to the wider body of international best practices and comparative case law on the exercise of prosecutorial powers, as well as to the practical consequences of the case on the fight against corruption, according to them.
“We also look forward to assisting the Court on questions whose answers will shape Ghana’s anti-corruption architecture for a generation”.
