ORAL Committee presents report to President John Mahama

The Operation Recover All Loot, ORAL Committee, today presented its report to the President a few weeks after the President set up the committee to help in recovering all looted state funds. Led by its chairperson and the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the ORAL Committee presented a report with over 2,000 cases to the President.

According to the ORAL Committee, it received 1,493 reports via a toll-free number while the remaining 924 of the 2,417 cases were reported via email.

President Mahama who made ORAL a core part of his 2024 presidential campaign announced during the swearing-in of 17 new ministers over the weekend that he would receive the report on Monday. As expected, the ORAL Committee led by its chairman, Okudzeto Ablakwa presented the report to the President at the Jubilee House.

Background of ORAL Committee

President John Dramani Mahama through to his promise to ensure every looted state asset is recovered constituted a 5-member committee to lead his flagship anti-corruption crusade. The ORAL Committee was announced on December 18 with Okudzeto Ablakwa as chairman and supported by former Auditor-General Daniel Domelovo, retired police chief  COP(Rtd.) Nathaniel Kofi Boakye, esteemed private legal practitioner Martin Kpebu and seasoned investigative journalist Raymond Archer.

After holding its first meeting the very same day, the committee chairman, Okudzeto Ablakwa announced that it “has resolved to work gratis” meaning none of the committee members will receive “salaries, allowances, per-diems or fuel coupons”. According to him in a social media post, none of their “activities will come at a cost to the taxpayer.” He urged Ghanaians to “support” to do the work “for God and Country”.

Some of the notable scandals that arrived at ORAL’s desk were the full dossier on the National Service ghost names scandal. The dossier was presented to the Committee by The Fourth Estate and the Media Foundation for West Africa.

Expectations of Ghanaians

While many including actors in the ousted NPP-government raised alarm and accused the committee of being on a witch-hunting mission, many Ghanaians said ORAL was what influenced their decisions at the polls and said they trust the President to live up to his promise.

One such fellows is Director of the Centre of Migration, Security and International Relations, SDD University of Business and Integrated Development Studies (SDD-UBIDS), Professor Elijah Yendaw. He noted that he campaigned for the NDC to win because he believed in the ORAL promise.

“Having campaigned vigorously to ensure that the NDC comes back and that John Mahama returned to the Flagstaff House, it was based on several principles and many of the policies that the NDC rolled out,” Prof Yendaw stated.

“One key policy that actually touched me the most had to do with the ORAL, which is Operation Recover All Loots, so, my expectation is for the team to go all out and listen to the Ghanaian people,” Prof Yendaw noted.

Another strong voice that supported ORAL was the Western Nzema Youth League (WNYL). According to its leader, Dr Patrick Ekye Kwesie who spoke to the Ghana News Agency, addressing corruption was “paramount” to securing Ghana’s future.

“The Western Nzema Youth League recognises that addressing this issue is paramount for the country’s future, so we believe that this will bring sanity to the political landscape and ensure accountability among public officials,” Dr Ekye Kwesie told GNA.

Adding to the voice of conscience rooting for ORAL’s success was Raphael Godlove Ahenu, CEO and Founder of anti-corruption and media advocacy non-profit organization, Global Media Foundation.

In a interview with GNA, Godlove Ahenu said “That[setting up ORAL Committee] is a bold and realistic intervention towards the fight against corruption and strengthening governance structures and President Mahama must therefore be commended for that.” Mr Ahenu added that “ORAL will empower anti-corruption agencies and legal institutions to aggressively pursue and recover assets that have been unlawfully acquired.”

Meanwhile, the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Dr Dominic Ayine rebuffed claims that ORAL had no legal backing. He said though ORAL is not a legal entity with prosecutorial powers, it is supported by the constitution which enjoins us to “exact accountability”.

“ORAL is constitutional. ORAL is legal. In fact, the fact that it is a non-legal body doesn’t mean that it is illegal. There is a distinction between non-legality and illegality,” Dr Ayine told the Vetting Committee of Parliament when he appeared before it to be vetted for the position of Attorney-General and Minister for Justice.

“The Constitution commits us to accountability, and ORAL seeks to exact that accountability from those who have used or misused public office to loot public resources, whether in the form of property, money, or other intangible resources,” he explained.