Senior Vice President of IMANI Africa, Kofi Bentil, has stressed that citizens cannot be criminally sanctioned for failing to prove allegations made against public office holders.
Speaking in an interview on Joy FM’s Midday News on Thursday, December 4, regarding the ongoing tensions between the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) and private legal practitioner Martin Kpebu, Mr Bentil stated that allegations against public officials must be handled through the appropriate channels, not through intimidation.
“Somebody has alleged a number of things against the OSP. Whoever has to hear those allegations must hear them and ask him to provide his proof.
“It must be noted that when you make allegations against a public officer, it is not a crime. If you can’t prove it, it simply means the person you made the allegations against will go free,” he said.
Mr. Bentil argued that if the Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng believes they have been defamed, the proper course of action is to seek redress through civil litigation.
“If they think they have been defamed, they can take you on. But it is not a crime to make an allegation, even a false one,” he said. “It is just not good enough that people rise up and make allegations, but that still does not make it criminal.”
He criticised the OSP for what he described as an unnecessarily aggressive posture toward citizens who comment on or criticise the office.
“The OSP should not take umbrage and run a citizen through all kinds of stresses simply because the person believes they have made allegations against them,” he cautioned.
He added, “There is a school of thought that believes the OSP itself should not be investigating these allegations against Mr. Agyebeng, but all that being said, let’s see how this plays out.”
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