There are mandated states institutions to do the work, Ablakwa-led ORAL team needless – Governance Expert

A Governance Expert, Kwasi Yirenkyi has criticised the decision of President-elect John Mahama to form a team as part of the implementation of Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL).

In the view of Mr Yirenkyi, the formation of this committee is needles because there are state institutions clothed with the powers and resources to perform this function, whether evidence gathering or prosecution.

“If you ask me, this team that has been formed is not needed, it is the same business as usual. For me it appears to be a team that has have been formed to appease party people and others who have concerns, maybe genuine concerns about how some officials may have dipped their hands into state coffers but there are state bodies, we have the A-G, EOCO, CID, BNI, now NIB, to do the work that this team has been mandated to do.

“The question is, the information and evidence that this team is gathering, who is going to act on the information they find? The EOCO, CID or NIB will have to act on them because they have the power to do so,” he told journalists in Accra on Wednesday, December 18

The President-elect, John Mahama’s Transition team has announced that as a preparatory measure towards the rollout of the promise to recover proceeds of corruption and hold persons responsible for such corruption accountable when he assumes office, a Team has been set up to receive and gather information from members of the public and other sources, on suspected acts of corruption.

The Team comprises the following individuals:

1. Hon Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwah – Chairman
2. Mr Daniel Domelovo-Former Auditor-General
3. COP(Rtd.) Nathaniel Kofi Boakye
4. Mr Martin Kpebu-Private Legal Practitioner
5. Mr Raymond Archer-Investigative Journalist.

“Anti-corruption, with Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) as a major plank, formed a core part of H.E John Mahama’s policy platform in the 2024 campaign and he intends to hit the ground running on these commitments,” a statement issued by the transition team said.

Earlier, Joyce Bawa Mogtari, Special Aide to Ghana’s President-elect, John Dramani Mahama, has given a harsh warning to anybody implicated in corruption charges under the present NPP administration to brace themselves for the full force of the law.

The ORAL aims to retrieve all revenues linked to corruption claims.

The special aide made these remarks in an interview with Channel One TV on Tuesday, December 10, as she underlined the new government’s commitment to accountability and budgetary management.

She stated that the most important thing Ghanaians anticipate from the new NDC government is to heal the economy and feed the people, as they are hungry. “We need to revive the economy, and everything else will thrive.”

“Ghanaians have given Mahama a massive win to deliver. “We need to recover the looted resources and complete all abandoned projects,” Joyce Bawa Mogtari stated.

“He (Mahama) understands that the youth want to see something different. People want to see respect. People expect leaders to accept accountability.

“You are aware that the IPPs currently owe a significant amount of money. Why are they owed money? This was a pretty clear intervention, and if they were paid, we would have power. But we haven’t been informed that they have ceased exporting power. So there has to be something wrong. There must be a reason they aren’t paying. “Why is investment at an all-time low?” she said.

“There has to be a reason why. Why are we told we have 12,000 kilometers of roads but haven’t seen them anywhere? Why are we told that little is being done to combat corruption?

“Look, we got a new finance minister. What efforts has he made, and what has he informed you he is doing to boost the economy? What actions has he announced to boost the economy?”

“Nothing. So the entire country is in limbo, yet people continue to spend. And if we hadn’t won the elections, they would have taken the rest of the money and placed it in their wallets before going home to sleep.”

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