The Executive Director of the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), Mary Awelana Addah, has described President-elect John Dramani Mahama’s constitution of a five-member anti-corruption committee is a populist approach.
She says the President-elect could have covertly constituted the team to work in support of the various anti-corruption agencies rather than announcing a team to that effect.
Madam Addah was speaking on the KeyPoints on TV3 Saturday, December 21, 2024, when she made the comments.
“The President-elect has not taken office yet, he could have just asked his committee to receive [the evidence of corruption] but not [a] public thing,” she stated.
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).
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.
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.
Corruption fight: ORAL is not enough – Anti-graft campaigner
