A new petition is asking President John Dramani Mahama to trigger the removal of Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng, accusing him of incompetence, financial mismanagement and mishandling high-profile corruption cases despite hundreds of millions of cedis in funding for his office.
The petition, dated October 20, 2025 and signed by Simon Yaw Awadzi, Executive Chairman of the Coalition for Integrity in Governance (COFIIG), is one of three separate petitions now before the President seeking Mr Agyebeng’s dismissal. It is described by officials as the most detailed of the complaints and has already been forwarded to the Chief Justice for a preliminary determination, in line with the removal procedures set out in the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959).
At the heart of the COFIIG petition is the claim that the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has failed to account transparently for an estimated GHS 364 million in budgetary allocations between 2021 and 2024. The petition says there is no publicly available audited financial statement covering how these funds were used, and argues that this lack of disclosure undermines public confidence in an institution created specifically to fight corruption.
The document goes on to argue that the scale of resources allocated to the OSP is not matched by results. It asserts that under Mr Agyebeng’s tenure the office has secured no major corruption convictions and recorded no significant asset recoveries, which the petition characterises as evidence of “administrative weakness and ineffectiveness” rather than a robust anti-corruption drive.
On that basis, COFIIG accuses the Special Prosecutor of incompetence within the meaning of section 15 of Act 959, which lists “stated misbehaviour or incompetence” and conduct prejudicial to the state among the grounds for removal. The group is asking that he be declared unfit to remain in office.
The petition devotes significant attention to the OSP’s handling of investigations involving former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, particularly the controversial revenue assurance contracts between Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML) and the Ghana Revenue Authority.
COFIIG alleges that the Special Prosecutor withheld key investigative dockets from the Attorney General’s Department for months, a move the petition says slowed or frustrated efforts to pursue extradition-related processes against the former minister. It describes this as gross misbehaviour and insubordination toward the principal government legal adviser.
A second petition, filed separately by Apostle Abraham Lincoln Larbi, repeats and amplifies some of those concerns. It claims the Special Prosecutor “disrespected” the Attorney General by refusing to release a critical docket and suggests that Mr Agyebeng effectively worked in concert with Mr Ofori-Atta to shield him from accountability, though it does not provide direct evidence of such collusion.
A third, anonymous petition focuses narrowly on the SML case. It accuses Mr Agyebeng of failing to exercise the OSP’s police-like powers to arrest Mr Ofori-Atta when, in the petitioner’s view, there were grounds to do so. It further alleges that the Special Prosecutor lied when he publicly suggested he had sought assistance from security agencies to effect an arrest. According to the petition, those actions and omissions have eroded public trust in the OSP and weakened Ghana’s broader anti-corruption effort.
COFIIG also raises questions about how Mr Agyebeng came to be appointed. The petition claims that his nomination as Special Prosecutor was “strongly influenced” by prominent lawyer and political insider Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko during the previous administration. It argues that this perceived closeness to a key figure in the former governing party creates a serious risk of selective or politically motivated prosecutions.
While the petition does not cite specific cases that it says were handled in a partisan manner, it insists that the appearance of political indebtedness alone is enough to damage the OSP’s credibility and to constitute conduct likely to bring the office into “disrepute, ridicule or contempt” as contemplated in the removal provisions of Act 959.
Beyond seeking the Special Prosecutor’s removal, COFIIG is asking the President to order a comprehensive forensic audit of the OSP’s finances and operations since 2021. It wants that audit to examine how the GHS 364 million in allocations was spent, what systems the office uses to select and prioritise cases, and why its work has not, in the petitioners’ view, translated into court victories and asset recoveries.
The petition also calls for Mr Agyebeng to step aside while any such audit and the constitutionally mandated removal process are underway, arguing that his continued presence in office could compromise both the investigation and staff who might be called as witnesses.
The latest complaints build on an earlier petition filed in October 2024 by journalist and publisher Kenneth Kwabena Agyei Kuranchie, which is also referenced in the new filing. In that petition, Mr Kuranchie alleged that the Special Prosecutor arranged for the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation to conduct security vetting and polygraph tests on about 80 percent of OSP staff, rather than using Ghana’s National Intelligence Bureau.
He argued that outsourcing such sensitive security screening to a foreign agency breached Ghanaian law, violated staff privacy and data protection guarantees, and could expose national security information. That petition framed the alleged conduct as “stated misbehaviour,” a willful violation of the Official Oath and Oath of Secrecy, and behaviour prejudicial to the security and economic interests of the state.
According to reports, a previous petition was dismissed at the prima facie stage by then Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo in May 2024 for lack of sufficient grounds. The current petitions now fall to Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, who must again decide whether the allegations warrant a full-scale inquiry.
Presidential spokesperson Felix Kwakye Ofosu has confirmed that the petitions against the Special Prosecutor and, separately, against the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission and her two deputies have been received by the Presidency and forwarded to the Chief Justice for action under the Constitution and Act 959. He has rejected claims that the Presidency orchestrated the complaints, insisting that the President’s role is limited to transmitting them to the head of the judiciary.
Under the law, the Chief Justice must first determine whether the petitions disclose a prima facie case. If they do, a committee similar in status to a Court of Appeal panel is constituted to investigate the allegations in camera and recommend whether the Special Prosecutor should be removed. The President is then bound to act in accordance with that committee’s findings.
Mr Agyebeng has not yet issued a detailed public response to the latest petitions, though in earlier interviews he has defended his record, citing significant ongoing investigations and arguing that structural and political resistance have constrained his office’s work. Supporters of the OSP say the barrage of petitions risks weakening one of the country’s few specialised anti-corruption agencies just as it begins to take on powerful political and business figures.
For now, the future of the Special Prosecutor will depend on whether the Chief Justice finds that the allegations of incompetence, mismanagement and misconduct cross the high legal threshold for removing a constitutional office-holder whose mandate was meant to insulate him from day-to-day political pressure.
