Political Science Professor Ransford Yaw Gyampo has admonished the Special Prosecutor to tread cautiously, particularly when he is not independent after all.
“The Special Prosecutor must therefore tone down on his youthful exuberance and must not be rushing to please anybody because, the office is not independent after all, from the control of politicians,” Prof Gyampo wrote on Thursday, June 8.
The write-up follows the arrest and subsequent granting of bail of former Environment Minister Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP).
According to Prof Frimpong-Boateng, he found it strange when he honoured an invitation by the Office only to be told he was under arrest.
Prof Gyampo believes the approach by the OSP is wrong as the venerable professor cannot be arrested when he had honoured the invitation extended to him.
“Indeed he can be invited to assist in investigations but he cannot be arrested without being charged,” the Political Scientist wrote.
“It is disrespectful and an unnecessary show of power as well as harassment to Prof Frimpong Boateng.
“I am not a lawyer and I don’t want to be one but I know that Prof Frimpong Boateng could have simply been invited. If he failed to honor the invitation, then the arrest could kick in.”
Prof Gyampo recalled how the first advocates of constitutional review wanted an independent prosecutor “and never a Special Prosecutor who would walk in the shadows of a partisan Attorney-General”.
He later wrote: “We asked for the separation of the Attorney General from the Ministry of Justice and the creation of an Independent Public Prosecutor who cannot be ordered by the Attorney General to pursue a case or discontinue it.”