According to the investigations and documented facts that were submitted to His Excellency John Mahama, the Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) team identified $21.19 billion in potential recoveries from looted state assets, undervalued land sales, and funds by the former government, the NPP, led by Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo and Mahamudu Bawumia. This startling discovery suggests that the NPP’s theft of public assets and associated costs far outweigh the IMF’s $3 billion financial assistance to Ghana.
Mr. Hopeson Adorye, a prominent figure in “Alan Kyeremanten’s Movement for Change,” claimed in May 2024, long before the ORAL team was established, that “the money NPP shared in the Ejisu by-election is more than the IMF loan to Ghana.” In the Ejisu Constituency by-election, Mr. Hopeson Adorye has characterized the NPP’s victory over former MP Kwabena Owusu Aduomi as a victory against the will of the voters because the NPP used money and other items to influence the electorate.
It’s inconceivable and inexplicable that a political party could have so much access to funds that could have helped Bawumia turn Ghana into the “Dubai of Africa” and “turn Ghana into the UK,” as he promised, but nothing of that sort, including promises to combat corruption and illegal mining, came to pass. With a staggering national debt of GHC 763 billion, the NPP’s “achievements” at the end of the eight-rule period include the collapse of the economy, businesses, and investments.
Eight years was sufficient to bring charges against any politician the previous administration deemed corrupt, but they did not. In spite of the money spent and involved in the legal proceedings, the failed government now wants the new government to carry on with the legal proceedings even though the coffers are almost completely empty. It is therefore right for the new government to release all the employees who were detained during the previous government’s crackdown as corrupt.
The NPP had all of the money, including that embezzled from COVID-19 funds and money laundering that the Belgian government had discovered, which resulted in the closure of the Ghana Embassy’s three bank accounts in Brussels. Why did the NPP government squander so much money and then keep it to buy votes without implementing any significant initiatives or developments? This is something I can’t explain, yet they are proud to tell Ghanaians that they are going to break the 8th cycle.
His Excellency John Mahama will not be interested in any other loan to create jobs and revive the economy when more than $21.19 billion in funds and properties have been embezzled. This amount of money is more than 100 times what the International Monetary Fund helped Ghana with. Therefore, all hopes are on the Attorney General as the only one who can recover the stolen funds and assets. Ghanaians are currently eagerly waiting for him to start of work next month, as promised.
I view the old government’s purposeful targeting of non-NPP firms to shut them down and the closure of financial institutions as a crime against humanity, in accordance with the “Governance Agyapadie Book.” For Ghanaians to endure the consequences of the NPP government’s corruption, such as the harsh measure introduced to apply for the IMF loan, is even more cruel. This ultimately harmed many Ghanaians, especially pensioners, and caused many of them to pass away too soon.
I strongly believe that “no one will get away with corruption under the NDC government,” thanks to the efforts of the ORAL team, the Attorney General, Dr. Dominic Akuritinga Ayini, His Excellency, President John Mahama, and Asiedy Nketiah, the NDC’s Secretary General. In many impoverished countries, let alone a developed one, such financial crimes would result in the imprisonment of all the politicians involved; therefore, Ghanaians expect all those criminals to be imprisoned.
