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Martin Luther Kpebu, a member of the five-member committee set up to spearhead the Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) has said the constitution of the team is a “masterstroke” to aid the fight against corruption. 

He says the existing anti-graft agencies have failed to live up to their mandate over the years, making the five-member committee an intervention at the right time to help fight corruption.

According to Kpebu, the committee will complement the work being done by the anti-corruption institutions which are sometimes hindered by infiltration of politicians.

He explained on the KeyPoints on TV3 Saturday, December 21, 2024, that the status quo for instance allows the Special Prosecutor to receive complaints of corruption and corruption-related activities and can choose to either work on them or not.

The private legal practitioner says if the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) fails to work on some of these complaints, they die there since such issues are not in the public limelight.

The renowned lawyer alleged that the President influences the Special Prosecutor on which cases to touch and which not to, making the formation of the preparatory committee for the ORAL a masterstroke.

He says he initially had hesitation being part of the team because he was not debriefed on the committee prior to his inclusion, he later realised it was worth it and had to contribute his quota to help.

“That decision to create the ORAL is a masterstroke because the Office of the Special Prosecutor, and they have even said it, they need help. Kissi Agyebeng held a press conference and asked us Ghanaians, ‘are you ready to fight corruption?’. We concentrated on the part that he was complaining about the Judiciary but he asked Ghanaians, are you ready to fight corruption?

“I can tell you that since coming unto the committee, I have seen things I couldn’t have appreciated sitting here,” he stated, adding that those who appointed him sometimes determine which cases he should handle and which not to.

“Kissi was crying at that press conference. He was crying because Akufo-Addo, they’ll call him, stop this thing, stop it! Not this one. So the rest of the population, how do we get visibility of that complaint? So they (complaint) go to him then the paymasters…, you think Gabby put him there for nothing?” he quizzed.

Several concerns have come out following the setting up of a five-member committee to spearhead a campaign by the President-elect, tagged Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) meant to fight corruption.

But according to Mahama, his outfit received several calls and text messages from people regarding corruption and corruption-related activities in various places that require probe.

He explains that it became necessary that evidence substantiating these allegations are put together and forwarded to the appropriate state agencies mandated to work on them after taking over the government.

John Mahama says the team will not be determining which individual or group to be investigate and prosecuted or otherwise, but would rather assemble the evidences being provided by the public for onward action to be taken by the appropriate state institutions.

“Some call me on my phone, some text me, others pass through other people. We want a focal point where all that evidence is directed so that they can assemble that evidence and once we come into office…, ORAL is not going to be investigating people. It is going to gather the evidence and pass that evidence to the government institutions that are supposed to do that kind of work,” he explained.

The President-elect was speaking on Thursday, December 19, 2024, when Canadian High Commissioner to Ghana, Myriam Montrat, paid a courtesy call on him.

“With regards to ORAL, Operation Recover All Loot, I announced the appropriately committee and I think people are misunderstanding it. We are receiving a lot of information on things that are going wrong, corruption scandals and all that,” he stated.

John Mahama urged Ghanaians to provide every evidence of corruption they have to the team so they can subsequently submit to the requisite institutions for action to be taken.

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