President Mahama order investigation into over 2,400 corruption cases wey committee submit

Ghana President John Mahama don direct di attorney general to immediately begin investigation into ova 2,300 corruption cases wia di operation recover all loot (ORAL) team don present on Monday.

Di president tok say di attorney general Dr Dominic Ayine gatz enta di mata sharp sharp to bring goment officials for di former administration to book.

For one ceremony for di seat of goment, di present tok say "I don hand ova di report to di AG now say make im investigate am."

"Di pipo wia tink say dem fit to defraud di state and escape justice, na lie. Make dis serve as strong warning give una. Ghana no longer be safe place for corruption."

President Mahama add say "dis goment go partner all pipo wia don dey stand for integrity and accountability to build our nation."

Di president bin set up ORAL committee afta im win di 2024 elections in December say make dem gather information about all type of corruption among goment officials.

Di committee include Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa as chairman, Daniel Domelevo wey be former auditor general, COP (rtd) Nathaniel Kofi Boakye, Martin Kpebu (private legal practitioner) and Raymond Archer wey be investigative journalist.

Dem set up toll free number and website wia pipo fit to call and report corruption cases anonymously.

ORAL team present breakdown of cases dem collect

Chairman of di ORAL committee wia be current foreign affairs minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa as im present di ogbonge report to di president tok say dem received ova 2,400 cases.

"We don receive 1,493 calls, 924 emails and 2,417 complaints in total from our work. We also bin receive 44 petitions directly from citizens."

Oga Okudzeto Ablakwa add say "bifor di president set up di ORAL committee, we bin review 59 cases wia we don do proper review of 230 of di 2,400 cases so far."

According to di chairman, "we fit to recover about $21.19b from state assets wia pipo don loot and di odas like lands wia dem don sell am cheap to political pipo."

"We also get 36 high profile cases wia we fit to recover up to $20.49 b to di state, dis dey include di controversial national cathedral case, di power distribution services (PDS) case, di saltpond decommissioning project among odas."

Di ORAL committee also tok say dem find say pipo don buy some of di state lands for ogbonge areas for cheap price wia lead to revenue loss of about $702.8m.

"If di kontri don value dis lands well well, at di current rates, we fit to get plenty moni from dis lands wia dey cantonment, ridge and odas places."

Among di reports dem receive from di public and oda civil society organisations, na "international request for forensic tracking of offshore accounts."

Some pipo say goment go struggle to prosecute pipo wit di work of di ORAL team

Afta di president set up di ORAL team on 18 December 2024, some pipo bin tok say na time-wasting effort.

While some pipo for di opposition party (New patriotic party -NPP) tok say na illegal committee wia dem set up, odas tok say dem no fit to secure any proper recoveries.

One lawmaker for di opposition party oga John Darko tok for one press conference say "President Mahama at di time im form di committee, na im only be president-elect, so im no get authority to set up dat kind committee."

"We don dey advise our pipo say make dem boycott any invite from di ORAL team. We neva go be part of dis kind tin sake of we tink say na illegal."

Oga Darko add say "wetin ORAL dey do na say make dem enta pipo dia house to seize cars and oda tins wia dis pipo don genuinely buy."

But di ORAL committee deny say dem neva enta any home to seize anytin.

Wetin dem do na say if dem receive di report about state property wia pipo don dey loot, dem dey call di national security make dem move to dat area to stop wetin dey happun.

In fact, oga Samuel Ablakwa tok say "but for our work at ORAL, some private developers don enta state bangalows wia belong to di ministry of foreign affairs, ministry of gender and di CSIR, wia dem wan destroy di houses wit bulldozers. Na so we don call national security wia dem go stop dem."

"Dis na some of di achievement of ORAL even bifor di attorney general go investigate di plenti reports we don receive."

One ogbonge lawyer Captain (rtd) Nkrabea Effah Dartey bin tok say di report by ORAL no fit to serve as basis for prosecution.

Im tok local media network citi fm say "ORAL don present report in two months, I don dey wonder wetin dey inside dat report sake if nobody, nobody, make una mark my word, nobody, not even di attorney general fit to rely on dis report to prosecute anybody."

Ova di years, di kontri don dey fall for di corruption perception index by transparency international.

Di 2024 ranking of di index wia dem release on Tuesday 11 February 2025, show say Ghana don drop from di score of 43, to 42 out of clean score of 100, from 180 kontris across di world.

Dis na drop from di 2023 score of 43, wey don dey raise questions about di fight against corruption.

Di Ghana integrity initiative (GII) don tok say wit dis latest ranking, Ghana gat to take some action.

Among oda tins, GII tok say parliament gat to improve dia financial oversight responsibility wia di judiciary gat to set up special anti-corruption court wia go handle corruption cases like e dey happun for Tanzania.



ORAL say dia work don save private developers from demolishing ova 50 goment bungalows



Di reports of di ORAL team don cover corruption, financial loss, looting of state lands and odas



Ghana don drop from 43 to 42 for di 2024 transparency international perception index