The Manhyia South MP says the Special Prosecutor must rethink his strategy if his case against Ken Ofori-Atta depends on the former Finance Minister incriminating himself.<\/p>\n
Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah insists that under Ghana\u2019s Constitution, no suspect is required to cooperate in a way that aids their own prosecution.<\/p>\n
Speaking on Joy News\u2019 PM Express on Tuesday, June 3, the MP said the Special Prosecutor\u2019s Office appears to be overstretching its power and misreading the law.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you look at Act 30, they don\u2019t need his arrest before proceeding against him. They don\u2019t need his presence before arresting him,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n
He argued that the OSP should build a case independent of Ofori-Atta\u2019s input.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the presence of Ken Ofori-Atta is necessary for determining a prima facie case in the whole investigation, then clearly the case of the OSP against Ken Ofori-Atta is weak,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause it would then seem that without Ken Ofori-Atta making an input into the investigations, they cannot proceed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baffour Awuah stressed that the right to silence is guaranteed by law.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t forget, under the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, Ken has a right not to incriminate himself. So he has a right to remain silent,\u201d he reminded viewers.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo what if you arrest him for the purposes of an interview and he says he will not talk? Is it the case that then you cannot proceed because he decides to keep quiet?\u201d<\/p>\n
He warned that such an approach exposes a fundamental weakness.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf your whole process can be stalled just because he exercises his constitutional right to silence, then something is wrong with the foundation of the investigation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The MP described the OSP\u2019s approach as rigid and counterproductive. He urged a shift in strategy. \u201cThe approach ought to vary,\u201d he said. \u201cEven if you want to arrest him, bait him.\u201d<\/p>\n
He used a proverb in Twi to drive home his point. \u201cIf a dishonest person wants to race with you, tell him to take the lead,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt seems that Ken and his lawyers have been dictating the pace. You are an investigative body.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Baffour Awuah, effective investigators sometimes play along and lie low.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are times when investigating bodies pretend to tag along, not show force or authority necessarily. They can pretend to tag along. Before you realise, they\u2019ve hanged you in a gallows.\u201d<\/p>\n
For him, the real goal should be getting results, not headlines. \u201cThat is why I think the approach adopted by the OSP, for me, needs to be varied in the public interest,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need results.\u201d<\/p>\n
The MP\u2019s remarks come amid growing criticism of the Special Prosecutor\u2019s handling of the Ofori-Atta matter, especially after declaring him wanted.<\/p>\n
But for Baffour Awuah, no suspect should be forced to build their own case for the state.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Manhyia South MP says the Special Prosecutor must rethink his strategy if his case against Ken Ofori-Atta depends on the former Finance Minister incriminating himself. Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah insists that under Ghana\u2019s Constitution, no suspect is required to cooperate in a way that aids their own prosecution. Speaking on Joy News\u2019 PM Express […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123457,"featured_media":11285,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,3507],"tags":[1098],"class_list":["post-11284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-news","category-national","tag-ken-ofori-atta"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/123457"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11284"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11286,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11284\/revisions\/11286"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}