The Director of Legal Affairs of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Godwin Edudzi Tameklo, has hit back at claims that the current administration is sabotaging the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), describing the institution’s current legal crisis as a predictable consequence of its flawed birth.
Speaking on JoyFM’s Top Story on Tuesday, 21st April 2026, Mr Tameklo dismissed the arguments of the Minority in Parliament.
He contended that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) never intended for the OSP to be a truly independent body, but rather a “political tool” designed to target officials from the previous John Dramani Mahama administration.
Mr Tameklo argued that Article 88 of the 1992 Constitution, which grants the Attorney General exclusive authority over all criminal prosecutions, is an entrenched provision.
He asserted that no “ordinary Act of Parliament,” such as the OSP Act, could legally strip that power away.
“Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo… knew well and well, having been an Attorney General before, that the provisions of Article 88.3 and 4 are so entrenched that there was no way an ordinary Act of Parliament could be used to amend the scope… but for politics,” Tameklo stated.
Warnings from the 2017 Hansard
To bolster his claim that the OSP’s current struggles were envisaged years ago, Mr Tameklo cited the parliamentary records from November 1st, 2017.
He read out transcripts of interactions between former MP Dr. Dominic Ayine and the then-Speaker Prof Mike Oquaye, where the NDC raised concerns about how the OSP would be legally authorised to prosecute.
According to Mr Tameklo, the NDC suggested that the OSP’s jurisdiction should have been defined through a Constitutional Instrument (CI) or a Legislative Instrument (LI) to ensure it stood on solid legal ground.
These warnings, he claims, were ignored because the government was under pressure and wanted to satisfy political optics.
“All these matters were envisaged. They were seen,” he insisted. “You never set the office right. And that is what has continued with the office years after it.”
The “Agyapa” Turning Point
Mr Tameklo alleged that the NPP’s relationship with the OSP soured only when the office began investigating the government’s own dealings.
He referenced the Agyapa Royalties corruption risk assessment conducted by the first Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, which implicated then-Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta.
“The person they brought… had to do a corruption risk assessment on the Agyapa, implicating the then Finance Minister. That is what angered the then Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu to come out with a ‘mother serpent of corruption’ label,” Mr Tameklo suggested.
NDC’s Commitment to Strengthening, Not Scrapping
The Legal Director firmly rejected the notion that the NDC or President Mahama intended to destroy the office.
He pointed to the NDC’s 2024 Manifesto, which pledged to strengthen the OSP, and noted that President Mahama had explicitly stated that the office should be given enough time to justify its existence.
He also addressed a recent Private Member’s Motion brought by two NDC MPs to repeal the OSP Act, clarifying that the party’s General Secretary, Fifi Kwetey, had already distanced the broader party from that move, stating it was done without proper consultation.
As the OSP fights for its survival in court, filing a Notice of Appeal and an Application for Stay of Execution against the High Court’s order for the AG to take over its cases, Mr Tameklo maintained that the current mess is the result of a legal bottleneck the NPP created knowingly.
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