John Dramani Mahama, the President-elect, has revealed that the work going to be undertaken by the Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) team is going to be on “pro bono” basis.
He says the membership has agreed to offer the service voluntarily to the nation without any budget needed to run their operations.
Mahama made the disclosure at a courtesy call on him by the Canadian High Commission to Ghana, Myriam Montrat Thursday, December 19, 2024, to congratulate him on his election victory.
Clarifying the mandate of the team, Mahama explained that the five-member committee is set to only receive evidence of corruption and corruption-related issues to be subsequently pushed to the appropriate anti-graft agencies when the new administration takes over in January 2025.
He set the records straight that the team is not going to witch hunt anyone but would only work based on evidence given to them by persons with information on issues related to corruption.
“If people have information they think that it is useful in the fight against corruption, pass it on to this team, that’s what the team is about. And they are all doing that service ‘pro bono’.
“They’re not expecting any payment. There is no expenditure or budget associated with the task they’re carrying out so I don’t think that people should think it is witch hunting committee. They have no brooms to fly at night so I can assure people that it’s not meant to witch hunt people,” he disclosed.
Mahama’s comments about the cost of the committee’s work to the state affirms an earlier disclosure made by one of the members of the ORAL team, Daniel Yaw Domelevo, who said they will not be taking any allowances for the work they will be doing.
Speaking on Onua TV’s morning show, Maakye, with Captain Smart Thursday, December 19, 2024, Domelevo said he had always spoken against setting up of new offices to tackle corruption when existing institutions responsible for such mandates fail.
He has always preached that rather than setting up new offices, existing ones should be strengthened to execute their mandate rather than adding up to the stress on the State’s coffers.
However, he averred that the fact that they were not going to put any financial burden on the State was enough to accept to be part of the team to put together the evidence needed to investigate and prosecute, where appropriate, all matters of corruption and corruption-related issues.
Corruption fight: ORAL is not enough – Anti-graft campaigner
