A coalition of 12 civil society organisations (CSOs) has formally announced plans to file a “friend of the court” brief at the Supreme Court of Ghana, escalating their defence of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) after the Attorney General’s office filed submissions that side with a plaintiff seeking to strip the OSP of its independent prosecutorial authority.
The coalition, whose members include the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), IMANI Africa, Transparency International Ghana, the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC), the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) and NORSAAC, said it has instructed lawyers to file an amicus curiae application in the case of Noah Adamtey versus the Attorney General, currently before the apex court under case number J1/3/2026.
The case, filed in December 2025, challenges the constitutionality of sections of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959) that grant the OSP powers to independently investigate and prosecute corruption-related offences. Attorney General Dr. Dominic Ayine’s office, through his deputy Dr. Justice Srem-Sai, filed submissions on April 8, 2026, supporting the plaintiff’s argument that Section 4(2) of Act 959 is unconstitutional, on the basis that Article 88 of the 1992 Constitution vests all prosecutorial powers exclusively in the Attorney General.
Addressing the media on Wednesday, coalition representatives described the Attorney General’s position as a direct threat to Ghana’s anti-corruption architecture and said civil society could no longer remain on the sidelines of the legal proceedings.
Kojo Asante, Director of Policy Advocacy and Engagement at CDD-Ghana, urged the court and the public to focus on reinforcing the OSP rather than reducing its reach. “If we were even worried about legality issues, we have the constitutional review process to resolve them, so what is the hurry, what is the rush? We are clear in our minds that there is nothing unconstitutional about it. What we had all agreed on was that when a constitutional review process came around, we would elevate the OSP to a constitutional body,” he said.
The coalition traced the origins of the OSP to Ghana’s Africa Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) assessment in 2004, through the first National Anti-Corruption Action Plan (NACAP) adopted by Parliament in 2015, and argued that the office was deliberately designed to operate independently of political oversight, particularly in cases involving politically exposed persons.
Representatives warned that a ruling limiting the OSP’s powers could erode public trust in state institutions and reverse progress made in strengthening governance accountability over the past decade. They called on the court to consider the broader implications for the rule of law and Ghana’s ongoing anti-corruption reform agenda.
The Supreme Court granted the Attorney General an extension of time to file the statement of case on April 16, 2026. No hearing date has been set for the amicus application.
