By Franklin ASARE-DONKOH
The Chairman of John Mahama’s newly formed “Operation Recover All Loot” (ORAL) team, who is the incumbent cum re-elected Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu, Mr. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has dispelled the notion that the five-member team put together by the incoming president, Mr. John Dramani Mahama to recover the country’s stolen resources, is for political witch-hunting.
He reiterated that the ORAL team’s focus is on accountability and safeguarding Ghana’s resources, urging the public to come forward with credible information on corrupt practices, regardless of who is implicated.
“So, if you have any information, no matter how far back or who it affects, please feel free. Our understanding of our mandate is that this is about Ghana and protecting the public purse,” he stated.
The following is the five-member team, put together by President-elect Mr. Mahama; Mr. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa as its chairman, Daniel Yao Domelevo- former Auditor-General, retired Police Commissioner of Police (COP) Mr. Nathaniel Kofi Boakye, Mr. Martin Kpebu, an astute legal practitioner and investigative journalist, Mr. Raymond Archer.
Speaking in an interview with an Accra-based Citi FM on Wednesday, December 18, 2024, the Chairman ORAL Team, in response to some concerns raised by some sections of the Ghanaian populace, maintained that the team is a fact-finding one and does not have any prosecutorial powers to prosecute wrong dowers in the Akufo Addo-Bawumia led administration.
He backed his claim of the team not being a political witch-hunting group by saying looking at the diverse and non-partisan nature of the team’s composition, which according to him will enable the team to focus on its mandate of recovering looted resources without engaging in political vendettas.
“If you look at the membership of this team, they are largely non-partisan. Apart from me, everybody else is not. The distinguished police officer, COP Kofi Boakye, and Lawyer Martin Kpebu, the human rights lawyer. Yao Domelevo, the venerable former auditor general, and Raymond Archer the investigative journalist. These are not people who have party cards.
These are people who have worked and toiled for their country. So, it is not a matter limited to just a particular regime. That is why we are emphasising that there is not going to be a witch hunt. If you have served your country well, and you have not squandered public resources, you have not engaged in state capture and you have not taken what does not belong to you, you have nothing to fear,” Mr. Ablakwa re-emphasized.
