Another foreign country, the United States, has given us a big assist in the fight against corruption. In a case involving the former Goldman Sachs executive Asante Berko and AKSA energy of Turkey, a jury has delivered a guilty verdict.
It has been revealed that Ghanaian law enforcement officials participated in the case. It is alleged that monies were paid to government officials and Members of Parliament to influence signing of the deal and passage by Parliament.
This inflated deal cost taxpayers monies. Disturbingly, Goldman Sachs withdrew from the process when it discovered that Mr. Berko had gone rogue, but Ghana did the deal anyway.
In addition to withdrawal from the case, it forced Mr. Berko to resign and reported the case to the SEC. Despite these events, the deal was approved by Parliament. And in 2024, Mr. Berko was named CEO of Tema Oil Refinery! Didn’t the NADAA government do any due dilligence?
This case has unfortunate echoes of the 2007 revelation in a Norwegian court that SCANCEM had paid $4 million USD in bribes to Ghanaian officials in the Mabey and Johnson and the Bombadier cases.
It would seem that despite the lip service paid to the fight against corruption with slogans like “probity and accountability “, “zero-tolerance”, “protecting the public purse” and “ORAL”, we don’t want to fight corruption.
Despite the existence of article 35(8)- “The state shall take steps to eradicate corrupt practices and abuse of power”, 218(e) and other strong anti-corruption clauses and bodies, we keep adding more rules, regulations and institutions while doing nothing.
Indeed, the CRC report that has just been released proposed an Independent Anti-corruption and Ethics Commission that will absorb the OSP and has been accepted by government. This new body and all those it joined will achieve nothing– enkosi aga!
This approach to fighting corruption reminds me of a young man who had been wooing a comely maiden over an extended period. One day, the lady called him and said, ” Krakye, I want to visit you this week. When will you be home?” The young man started stammering, ” I don’t know–I am not sure– hmmm– haaa”.
Our problem is not our constitution or our laws. Our problem is enforcement. Our anti-corruption fight has been paralyzed by partisanship and “what-about” ism– as well as the reality that the watchman and the thief are the same or closely related.
Our constitution is 3 times the length of the US constitution. Everything we need to fight corruption is there. When I sent the news about the Berko-AKSA case to Speaker Bagbin, he stated, “I was the majority leader then. I will refer to the membership of the Committee on Energy to trigger an investigation into this matter”.
That is welcome. But while we need to know why and how government institutions failed, the anti-corruption bodies and the Attorney-General must get to work. Crimes were committed by identifiable officials.
Consistent with “probity and accountability ” as well as ORAL, let’s get some accountability. And as President Mills did with the Mabey and Johnson case, lets have some resignations while investigations and charges are pending.
As Nigeria’s celebrated anti-corruption czar, Nuhu Ribadu put it, “Fighting corruption is a war. In a war, you go for the big targets” Let’s get them. May God bless Ghana.
By Arthur Kobina Kennedy (9th August, 2026)
