Parliament cannot transfer Attorney-General's prosecutorial powers through legislation - Deputy AG

Deputy Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Dr Justice Srem-Sai, maintained on Sunday, July 26, on The Law with Samson Lardy Anyenini on JoyNews, that Parliament cannot transfer the Attorney-General's constitutionally mandated prosecutorial powers to the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) through ordinary legislation. He stated, "The argument is that the person whom the Constitution gives authority to is the only person who can delegate. You cannot say someone can delegate the power that belongs to another person."

Dr Srem-Sai was responding to claims that the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act and the Office of the Special Prosecutor Operations Regulations, 2018 (L.I. 2374), authorize the Special Prosecutor to exercise prosecutorial powers independently. He rejected the interpretation that Parliament "statutorily authorized" the Attorney-General's prosecutorial powers to the Special Prosecutor, insisting Parliament could not delegate powers not conferred on it. He added, "Parliament has no power to prosecute, and if you have no power to prosecute, you cannot delegate t..."