Deputy General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Obiri Boahen, has said private legal practitioner, Akoto Ampaw, is qualified to be appointed as the Special Prosecutor.

According to him, concerns raised about Mr Ampaw vis-à-vis the Office of the Special Prosecutor, are frivolous and vexatious.

Apart from Mr Ampaw, the name of another lawyer, Phillip Addison has also popped up as a possible appointee to that office.

The two lawyers were part of the legal team for Nana Akufo-Addo during the election petition hearing in the Supreme Court after the 2012 elections.

The opposition in Ghana has expressed fears that the closeness of Mr Ampaw and Mr Addison to President Akufo-Addo will compromise their neutrality.

But speaking in an interview with Obeng Mensah, sit-in host of Ghana Yensom on Accra100.5FM on Friday, 5 January, Mr Obiri Boanhe said: “Thaddeus Sorry at Law, are they not lawyers for the Electoral Commission? All the cases that came last two years against the Electoral Commission, it was this law firm that represented the Electoral Commission.

“Is it not the same law firm that represented Charlotte Osei? When Opoku Agyeman (Lawyers for petitioners against Charlotte) raised that issue in court, the judge said there was no conflict of interest, and, so, what is wrong if Philip Addison or Akoto is appointed Special Prosecutor? Are they not lawyers?

“Akoto Ampaw is qualified to hold that position. People should stop wasting our ears and let us think of this nation, we need to think of this nation. People have stolen Ghana’s money and we need somebody to hold them accountable and we are here talking about who is qualified and who is not qualified to be Special Prosecutor. We should not give credence to some of these frivolous vexatious complaints.”

Meanwhile, Member of Parliament for South Dayi and Member of the Constitutional Committee of Parliament, Rockson-Nelson Dafiamekpor, stated that although Mr Ampaw is a competent lawyer, he is in a conflict of interest situation, a situation that makes him unfit to hold that position.

“Akoto Ampaw is in a conflict of interest situation with the president and that is all we are saying. Apart from that he is a very fine and competent lawyer. We think because of his present circumstances, he cannot be appointed by the president to copy such a position,” he told Obeng Mensah.