In a bold and provocative argument, legal scholar and activist Donkor Selikem Timothy has ignited a fresh debate on the necessity of aggressive measures to recover stolen state resources.
His stance, captured in the phrase “We Must All Be ORALISTS,” drew attention to the historical precedents of accountability campaigns in Ghana and the need for a robust legal framework to tackle corruption.
“Section 3 of the Human Sexual Rights & Family Values Act 2024 criminalises oral sex and any campaign encouraging the same. Thankfully through legal gymnastics that bill never became law. So I can feel free to say, I am an ORALIST without fear of Sam George and his assigns. Are you an ORALIST?”
Donkor Selikem Timothy, Legal scholar and Activist
Timothy, however, clarified that his version of ORALISM—Operation Recover All Loots (ORAL)—is an accountability campaign aimed at retrieving stolen public resources.
Timothy drew historical parallels, emphasizing that efforts to prosecute corrupt officials and recover looted funds are not new in Ghana.
According to him, the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) in 1979 executed three former heads of state and several top officials as part of its house-cleaning campaign.
He emphasized that special courts were established to expedite justice, teaching Ghanaians that traditional judicial processes often fail to hold powerful individuals accountable due to legal technicalities and bureaucratic inertia.
“They do not help usually for two regimes; either the traditional courts have stooges of the previous regime or technical rules are utilised in these old courts to delay justice. This lesson will be repeated by the PNDC in 1981 and the Kuffuor’s regime in 2001”.
Donkor Selikem Timothy, Legal scholar and Activist
Timothy further indicated that the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) in 1981 continued this approach with the establishment of the “People’s Defence Committees (PDCs)”, which protected tenants from exploitative landlords and enforced price controls to curb economic manipulation.
The famous Public Tribunals
More significantly, Timothy noted that the PNDC introduced “Public Tribunals” (PNDC Laws 42 & 78), bypassing traditional courts filled with political sympathizers to deliver swifter justice.
According to Timothy, the public tribunals’ approach—removing “aristocrats in wigs and robes” from adjudication—was instrumental in combating corruption.
While criticized for their draconian sentences and expedited trials, Timothy posited that these tribunals proved effective in delivering swift justice.
“The public tribunals are known famously for expedited trials of cases and the punitive sentences they imposed. [ 60 years for stealing. Sometimes an entire trial was done in 4 weeks ] Speed and evil were its known nicknames”.
Donkor Selikem Timothy, Legal scholar and Activist
The National Investigations Committee (NIC), also established under PNDC rule, facilitated corruption investigations and allowed officials to confess guilt in exchange for reduced penalties.
According to Timothy, the mandate of the National Investigative Committee was similar to the ORAL committee set up by President Mahama ahead of his inauguration on January 7th 2025.
He indicated that anyone who appeared before NIC may confess guilt and offer reparation to the State if he doesn’t want to undergo prosecution upon full investigation.
Among other things, Timothy noted that the National Investigations Committee (NIC), also reviewed assets confiscated by the AFRC on corruption suspicion.
The Fast-Track High Court
Moreover, Timothy indicated that President John Agyekum Kufuor, after assuming office in 2001, took a different but similarly aggressive stance against corruption.
His administration, according to Timothy, established the Fast-Track High Court, a specialized branch of the High Court focused on corruption cases.
“It was a court dedicated chiefly to the trial of corruption cases. It handled two very important cases: The Republic v. Ibrahim Adam & others (2001) [ Quality Grain] – The accused persons included the Minister of Agriculture under Rawlings, the Minister of Finance, and the Director of the Ministry of Agriculture. They were charged for wilfully causing financial loss to the State.
“The Republic v. Tsikata (2001) – the Accused is the CEO of Ghana National Petroleum Corporation ( GNPC) who was charged for wilfully causing financial loss to the State. He is the famous Lawyer Tsikata”.
Donkor Selikem Timothy, Legal scholar and Activist
Timothy argued that President John Mahama’s “Operation Recover All Loots (ORAL)” anti-corruption campaign is a continuation of these past accountability efforts.
However, he critiqued President Mahama for not fully institutionalizing ORAL through a legal instrument, which could have empowered it with statutory authority, subpoena powers, and broader investigatory reach.
“If Mahama were to have studied Rawlings, he would have established the ORAL committee by an Act of Parliament,” Timothy asserted, suggesting that without such legal backing, ORAL risks being ineffective.
Despite this critique, Timothy insisted that one does not need to support President Mahama’s ORAL to be an ORALIST. Instead, he called on all Ghanaians to embrace the philosophy of ORALISM—standing for accountability and the retrieval of stolen state resources.
“Once an ORALIST, always an ORALIST,” he declared, stressing that corruption should be tackled regardless of which political regime is in power.
A Call for Action: Institutionalizing ORALISM
Timothy did not stop at analysis; he offered concrete recommendations for the new National Democratic Congress and Mahama’s administration.
He proposed: the establishment of tribunals or the reactivation of regional tribunals to handle corruption cases efficiently and the enactment of laws that permit asset confiscation and the recovery of corruption proceeds after conviction.
Timothy also called for the introduction of expedited criminal procedures that speed up corruption trials without compromising fairness.
In a parting shot, he invoked the famous label for President Nana Akufo-Addo—“The Mother Serpent of Corruption”—to argue that even the immediate past administration engaged in ORALISM by passing into law the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act in 2017.
If former President Akufo-Addo could establish a corruption-fighting institution, Timothy suggested, President Mahama must go further and create a legally empowered ORAL framework to ensure lasting accountability.
Timothy’s rallying cry is clear: Ghana cannot afford to be complacent in the face of endemic corruption. He urged citizens to demand stronger accountability measures and support reforms that prioritize swift justice and loot recovery.
The battle against corruption, he insisted, must be waged with unrelenting force. As he puts it: “We must get them by their mouth. Sealing it from further consuming resources.”
In other words, the looters must be stopped before they continue feasting on Ghana’s dwindling resources. Whether or not one subscribes to President Mahama’s ORAL initiative, the principle remains the same—corrupt officials must be held to account.
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