OSP challenges High Court ruling on its prosecutorial authority
In response to the ruling, the OSP has filed two separate court processes: a stay of execution before General Jurisdiction 10, the same High Court that issued the order, and a notice of appeal at the Court of Appeal.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor has moved to challenge the High Court decision that declared its prosecutions invalid and directed the Attorney-General to take over all its pending criminal cases.
In response to the ruling, the OSP has filed two separate court processes: a stay of execution before General Jurisdiction 10, the same High Court that issued the order, and a notice of appeal at the Court of Appeal.
The disputed ruling was delivered on 15 April 2026 by Justice Eugene John Nyanteh Nyadu in a quo warranto application brought by Peter Archibold Hyde, one of the accused persons being prosecuted by the OSP.
In that decision, the court held that prosecutorial authority in criminal matters rests with the Attorney-General under the Constitution and that the OSP could not continue handling prosecutions unless its officers had first been authorised through an Executive Instrument.
The court went further and declared that any convictions already secured by the OSP through what it described as an improper exercise of prosecutorial power were void. It also ordered that such trials should begin afresh under the Attorney-General, pending the proper authorisation process.
Costs of GH¢15,000 were awarded against the OSP.
