Ankwanoma OSP: The Singing Prosecutor and the Bailed-Out Lawyer
By Dr. Ato Kwamena Danso · 23 December 2025 · Politics
You’ll be amused to know that the theater of the absurd in our Republic has a new leading man: Martin Kpebu. It appears the man who once championed the cause of the downtrodden is now on a singular mission to perform a final magic trick, trying to make the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) disappear entirely. I remember when Martin first came onto the scene through Joy Newsfile. Back then, he was a very unassuming, learned lawyer, a shy gentleman who seemed to know the Constitution like the palm of his hand. He spoke with the quiet precision of a surgeon. But oh, how times change! The moment he started wearing "The Hat," the transformation was complete. The shy gentleman vanished, replaced by a legal warrior who started throwing missiles at anyone within range. It seems the more prominent the hat, the more explosive the rhetoric. For years, this new, missile-launching Martin stood on a legal high horse, making a mockery of those unfortunate souls caught in the OSP’s net who couldn’t afford their bail. He famously declared with the confidence of a man who sleeps with a law ledger under his pillow—that as a "senior lawyer," it was practically impossible for him to be detained. The irony reached its peak when he, a prominent member of ORAL , the team championing the prosecution and arrest of those who allegedly embezzled state funds , found himself being detained. He who called for the shackles of others suddenly felt the cold steel of the law. This happened after a spirited verbal altercation with security at the OSP office, where insults were reportedly traded like currency. After they "bundled" him away, the OSP office requested a landed property in his name as part of his bail , the ultimate "paperwork" punishment for a man who loves his law books. How else is a lawyer supposed to defend himself if not with his words? Yet, his vocabulary led him straight to a cell. He was then slapped with the very same ridiculous bail conditions that he once ridiculed others for failing to meet. Watching a man who specializes in words being silenced by a demand for a deed was like watching a chef realize he’s allergic to his own dish. While Martin is busy trying to dismantle the office, the Special Prosecutor himself, Kissi Agyebeng, has taken to the airwaves with a surreal defense strategy. He had appeared on TV not just to argue law, but to quote Daddy Lumba’s hit tune "Ankwanoma." He stood there like a lonely bird on a podium, singing about his soul and his "time being up" as if we paid the man to mime on a public stage. If we wanted highlife, we could have hired a band for a fraction of the OSP’s budget, which, by the way, has apparently spent more money than it has actually collected. The comedy is compounded by the political pivot of the NDC MPs. Suddenly, the very people who might have cheered for a strong OSP are calling for its head. It seems that when the "Senior Lawyer" of their liking gets caught in the gears, the whole machine must be scrapped.Martin and his company now claim they possess damning information about the OSP, but he will only share it with the Governing Board. The catch? The Board apparently doesn't exist. It’s the perfect legal stalemate: I have the smoking gun, but I’ll only show it to the ghost in the room. So long, Ato KD