The new Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Easmon Nathanael Ngakui on Friday took the oath of office in front of the president at State House, about a week after the announcement of his appointment to the position.
He replaced Sulaiman Bah, in office since 2011.
The office of DPP, as provided for in the 1991 constitution, is tasked with instituting and undertaking criminal proceedings against any person before any court in respect of any offences against the laws of the country.
He or she may also take over and continue any such criminal proceedings that may have been instituted by any other person or authority, or discontinue at any stage before judgment is delivered in any such criminal proceedings instituted or undertaken by
themselves or any other person or authority.
Like the Solicitor General, the DPP’s office is a unit within the office of the Attorney General.
The prosecutor’s office will be crucial in the government’s campaign against corruption and
indiscipline in governance.
Ngakui’s predecessor, Sulaiman Bah, was sacked last week as part of President Bio’s ongoing reform of key government institutions since he assumed office in April last year.
Mr Bah was first appointed to the position in acting capacity since May 2011, before his substantive appointment on June 6, 2016 by former President Ernest Bai Koroma.
President Bio told the new DPP that as a new government they had a duty to correct the wrongs of the past and take the country forward and he urged the new prosecutor to ensure working as a team.
“We can surmount the different challenges we have encountered by working as a team. Now, you have joined the government and we want to make the judiciary independent to discharge the duties expected of it,” he said.
DPP Ngakui said despite the enormity of the task ahead, he was optimistic about delivering.
He noted that the good side about his appointment was that from hindsight he already knew the problems ahead of him.