If there is one thing Ghana never fails to produce, it is political theatre. Our public space has become so dramatic that sometimes you are unsure whether you are watching governance or a travelling concert. And this week’s announcement certainly qualifies as entertainment.
A group led by Apostle Abraham Larbi Lincoln says it will march to Jubilee House to demand the removal of Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng. And they did. The theme for the protest is “Agro Ne Fom.” At least they were honest about the spirit behind it.
The group claims the Special Prosecutor is not fulfilling his mandate. Really? Now? This is the same Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) that has dragged political elites into courtrooms, uncovered billions in financial rot, chased SML, MIIF, procurement scandals and tax leakages, and introduced digital transparency tools. Yet suddenly, a group appears to tell the nation that this office is inefficient. Ghana, can we be serious?
The undertones are loud even before the chants begin. Something about this mobilisation looks less like civic activism and more like coordinated anxiety. Strangely, the same people who accused the OSP of being too aggressive yesterday are accusing it of being too lazy today.
The same commentators who scream that corruption is swallowing Ghana now want the institution fighting corruption to be dissolved. And the same voices who say they want accountability are demanding the removal of the one office that has opened the most uncomfortable files. Decode it.
The timing alone should make Ghana pause. Major corruption cases are already in court. Extradition steps are underway. Investigations are tightening around people who once felt untouchable. And suddenly, fifteen petitions appear like mushrooms after rain, all demanding the Special Prosecutor’s removal.
Who files fifteen petitions against one anticorruption office unless something is shaking? Why would this pressure surface at the exact moment accountability is becoming real?
Then consider the messenger. Apostle Lincoln insists he has nothing against the Special Prosecutor. He simply wants the entire office dissolved and every staff member removed. That is like a doctor saying he does not dislike your leg, he only wants it amputated. The logic collapses before it even stands.
And the inefficiency claim is even more bewildering. These critics cannot mention three anticorruption institutions older and better resourced than the OSP that have shown stronger public-facing work in this year of ORAL. Yet none of those institutions has ever faced fifteen petitions, red shirts or a march to Jubilee House.
Their silence is tolerated. Their errors are forgiven. Their failures are excused. But the one office that publishes reports, files charges, recovers funds, opens its processes to citizens, and is overseeing thirty-three high-profile individuals currently standing trial in courts across the country is the one they want removed? The joke writes itself.
Citizens must ask: who is truly angry, who is exposed, who is uncomfortable, and who suddenly needs the streets to rise on their behalf? And the legal commentary surrounding the protests is drifting into pure comedy.
Private legal practitioner Martin Kpebu loudly insists that fifteen petitions prove something is wrong with the Special Prosecutor. By that thinking, if a gang of thieves filed fifteen petitions to remove a police commander, that alone would prove the commander is incompetent. Since when did petitions become proof of incapacity?
Now consider the undertones. Some groups claim the OSP is failing. Yet they were silent when previous anticorruption bodies slept through entire administrations. They were silent when major cases were discontinued recently.
Citizens must be honest with ourselves. When pressure emerges precisely when investigations mature, it is rarely about efficiency. It is about survival. When people who never protested corruption now mobilise against the office fighting it, the story is not patriotism. A nation must learn to see through disguise.
And the irony is sweet enough to bottle. The same people who praised Martin Amidu when he called former President Akufo-Addo the mother serpent of all corruption now want to remove the Special Prosecutor who is probing the children of that same serpent.
The real question is simple. If these groups truly loved Ghana, why are they not marching against corruption? Why are they not marching for better hospitals, better schools, better procurement laws, better judicial reforms? Why are they marching against the one office fighting the very destruction they claim to hate?
Citizens know the answer. It is not about Ghana. It is personal, coordinated and sponsored. Who is pushing the idea that a certain Cynthia Lamptey should take over the OSP without her consent, claiming she is senior and aligned, as if her reputation is theirs to use? These whispers reveal ambition disguised as activism.
Author: Kay Codjoe, Market Research Consultant and Volunteer Associate at the IMANI Centre for Policy and Education
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