Private legal practitioner and activist, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, has criticized President John Dramani Mahama’s Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) team.
According to him, he doubts the team would be able to prosecute a single individual.
In a social media post, Barker-Vormawor, who also serves as the lead convener of the #FixTheCountry movement, critiqued the late former President John Atta-Mills accusing him of adopting a “Father for All” approach, which he claims allowed corrupt officials to escape accountability.
Barker-Vormawor drew a comparison between the governing styles of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in handling corruption cases, asserting that the NPP has historically been more proactive in prosecuting government officials accused of malfeasance.
Highlighting the NPP’s track record, he stated, “In our political tradition, the NPP has jailed more former government officials than all our previous elected governments combined, since independence.
“Under Kufuor, several former Senior NDC Government officials went to jail, including a sitting MP. Former Ministers and Deputy Ministers for Finance, Trade & Industry, Tsatsu Tsikata, you name it. Most of those prosecutions were led by Nana Addo personally as AG.
“3. Under Nana Addo himself, 3 NDC MPs were prosecuted. 2 found not guilty, and 1 still ongoing. Even Ato Forson, majority leader and now minister of Finance designate escaped jail by a toenail.
“4. Also, Nana Addo broke the myth that former Presidents cannot be imprisoned. For the first time in our democracy, the President himself was the complainant of a criminal complaint sent to the Special Prosecutor. He reported former President Mahama to be investigated and prosecuted over the Airbus scandal.
“6. By that he ensured that there should be no shyness about prosecuting a former president.”
Barker-Vormawor praised Nana Akufo-Addo for challenging the entrenched notion that former presidents are immune to prosecution.
He pointed out that Akufo-Addo became the first sitting president to file a criminal complaint against a former president, John Dramani Mahama, over the Airbus scandal.
He expressed skepticism about the NDC’s commitment to holding its political opponents accountable, stating that the party has not successfully prosecuted any NPP minister, government official, or president since 1992.
He described this trend as “interesting” and questioned whether the NDC could alter its approach.
“8. But see oo. what I find strange is that the NDC has never since 1992 successfully, investigated or prosecuted any NPP minister, government, or president. None I can remember anyway.
“9. That’s interesting, isn’t it?
“10. Atta-Mills set the precedent of allowing thieves to go and enjoy their loot when he decided to be “Father for All.
“11. So, I don’t know why, but I feel like if ORAL was an NPP project, there would be sword-cutting for Nsawam Prisons to be expanded in the first 10 days.
“12. Can the NDC change its skin? Or Dadaanoaa?
“13. Will Mahama be the father for Farida and Sharif alone or will he add Gabby Otchere-Darko and Ken Ofori Atta too? Shalom,” he added.
1. In our political tradition, the NPP has jailed more former governemnt officials than all our previous elected governments combined, since independence.
— Osagyefo Oliver Barker-Vormawor (@barkervogues) January 12, 2025
2. Under Kufuor, several former Senior NDC Government officials went to jail, including a sitting MP. Former Ministers and… pic.twitter.com/7ULFFODrr2
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