Lawyer suggests decoupling public prosecutions from duties of AG
He particularly argued that prosecutions were technical duties that should not be left to political actors and equally noted that some countries have Independent Director of prosecution, positions that are separate from the duties performed by the Attorney-General.
Private legal practitioner and Head of Law Department at Lancaster University, Mr. Victor K. Brobbey has suggested that public prosecutorial duties should be separated from roles performed by the Attorney-General.
According to him, it would guarantee effective public prosecution and restore confidence in the judiciary.
He particularly argued that prosecutions were technical duties that should not be left to political actors and equally noted that some countries have Independent Director of prosecution, positions that are separate from the duties performed by the Attorney-General.
“Prosecutions are not political things, they are technical things, either the person has committed the offence or not. So, you don’t want the political person being the ultimate persona in all decisions,” he said at a constitution review engagement organised for members of the Ghana Revenue Authority, Customs Division by the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) in Accra.
“So, one thing that we certainly need to look at is creating a role for a public prosecutor that is separate from that of the Attorney-General, like we did in 57 and 1960,” he proposed.
Recently, there have been calls for constitutional amendments or an outright overhaul of the 1992 Constitution.
At the NCCE’s constitution week public lecture to mark 30 years of the referendum adopting the 1992 Constitution on May 10, 2022, Justice of the Supreme Court, Gabriel Pwamang acknowledged that calls from various sides and groups for constitutional reforms must not be dismissed.
He however noted that although the calls for constitutional reforms remain important, it should not be an opportunity to subject the constitution to trivial amendments.
