The Kufuor, Akufo-Addo Factor and Church Arrest: Tsatsu opens up on his 'prosecution'

Legal luminary Tsatsu Tsikata ( has opened up about his prosecution and subsequent jailing under the government of former President John Agyekum Kufuor, when he was wrongfully accused of causing financial loss to the state.

Speaking at the Honorific Lecture and Award ceremony held in his honour by the University of Professional Studies, Accra, on April 15, 2026, he narrated how the then government led by Kufuor and his Attorney General, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, moved heaven and earth to ensure that he was jailed for committing no crime.

He indicated that not even the declaration that the Fast Track High Court, which Kufuor established to prosecute him, was unconstitutional saved him.

“Upon an application by my lawyer, EVO, the Supreme Court, by a 5–4 majority, declared unconstitutional both the so-called Fast Track High Court, before which I was arraigned, and my having been summoned to the court in the name of the President. I think I'm the only person since Republican Ghana who has been summoned to a court in the name of the President, and that was despite the fact that the Constitution requires the independence of the judiciary,” he said.

Tsatsu Tsikata accused former President Kufuor of appointing two more justices to the Supreme Court just to overturn the declaration of the Fast Track court he established as unconstitutional.

“After that five-four decision, President Kufuor immediately took steps to appoint two new judges to the Supreme Court for the express purpose of enabling Chief Justice Wiredu, who was one of the minority in the 5:4 decision, to empanel those two new members of the Supreme Court as part of the review panel.

“The then Attorney General, later President Akufo-Addo, held a press conference after the Supreme Court decision, condemning the judges in the majority for what he called a perverse decision. According to plan, the review ended up overturning the earlier decision by a 6:5 majority,” he said.

The veteran lawyer went on to narrate how he was arrested at church right after the Supreme Court overturned the declaration of the Fast Track High Court as unconstitutional.

“Police were sent on the Sunday after the first decision of the Supreme Court towards the church where I worship to arrest me. I had always made myself available to the police. The only reason for that particular event immediately following the Supreme Court decision in my favour was to show that even that court decision did not matter to the powers that be.

“Later that same week, new charges were brought in a normal High Court against me. These were again dismissed on the basis that they were unconstitutional, being in breach of the clear constitutional provision against criminal legislation being used retroactively. Once the President got the review panel he wanted and the Supreme Court then went his way, I was arraigned before a Fast Track High Court again,” he said.

He indicated that this time around, no law could save him, as he was jailed for five years even in the absence of his lawyer, who had sought leave of the court.

He said that the judge told him to represent himself even though he did not have the briefing on the case and pronounced him guilty of a crime he did not commit.

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Background

The legal troubles of Tsikata date back to his tenure as Chief Executive of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC).

In 2008, he was convicted on charges of causing financial loss to the state during the Kufuor administration.

The case centred on a loan guarantee he approved in the 1990s for a private company that later defaulted on its financial obligations.

Prosecutors maintained that his decision resulted in a significant loss to the state.

However, his defence team argued that the move was made in the national interest and fell within the scope of his official responsibilities at the time.

Following the trial, he was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment by an Accra Fast Track High Court.

The ruling became one of the most debated legal decisions in Ghana, with critics arguing that the prosecution was politically motivated, particularly given the transition of power at the time.

Tsikata served part of his sentence at the Nsawam Medium Security Prison before receiving a presidential pardon in 2009 from the late former President John Evans Atta Mills.

In a significant turn of events, the Supreme Court of Ghana in 2010 overturned his conviction, citing flaws in the trial process and concluding that there had been a miscarriage of justice.

This ruling ultimately cleared him of all wrongdoing, bringing closure to a case that had remained a focal point of legal and political debate in Ghana for years.

Watch a video of his remarks below:

BAI