Renowned legal scholar and CDD-Ghana Fellow, Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare, has described the Operation Recover All Loots (ORAL) initiative as a carefully engineered accountability mechanism that is structured to succeed because it is powered by law and guided by due process.
Responding to criticisms that the initiative is slow or lacks visibility, he argued that ORAL was never intended to be loud or performative, but deliberate, methodical and irreversible.
Professor Asare characterized ORAL as “a five-gear machine engineered for accountability, powered by law, and designed to move only forward.” In his view, understanding the initiative requires appreciating its structure rather than judging it by the volume of public commentary it generates.
He stressed that ORAL “does not rev loudly,” but instead progresses by engaging clearly defined legal stages that build on one another. According to him, the first gear of ORAL focuses on discipline at the entry point of accountability. At this stage, allegations are carefully collated rather than manufactured.
He emphasized that this distinction is critical, noting that the credibility of the entire process depends on ensuring that claims are grounded in fact and not driven by political imagination or personal vendettas. For Professor Asare, this initial phase prevents abuse and protects the integrity of the system.
The second gear, he explained, shifts responsibility to state institutions mandated to investigate and audit. These institutions, he said, are required to work professionally and independently, guided by evidence rather than speculation.
“Institutions investigate and audit, not speculate,” he said, underscoring the importance of separating accountability from rumor. In his assessment, this stage ensures that cases are tested against objective standards before advancing further.
ORAL’s Third Gear: Charges and Recoveries
Professor Asare described the third gear as the point at which the law begins to assert itself in concrete terms. At this stage, charges are filed and recovery processes initiated.
“This is where the law draws blood,” he said, explaining that accountability moves beyond reports and audits into enforceable legal action. For him, this phase marks the transition from inquiry to consequence.
The fourth gear, according to Professor Asare, is where trials begin. This is the stage at which evidence replaces propaganda and allegations are examined through judicial procedures.
He argued that critics who demand instant outcomes often overlook this phase, yet it is central to ensuring fairness and legitimacy. In court, he said, facts are tested, rights are protected and conclusions are reached based on law rather than public pressure.
The final gear delivers what he described as the inevitable outcomes of a functioning accountability system: convictions, confiscation of assets and consequences. Professor Asare stressed that these results cannot be rushed without undermining justice.
“Machines don’t shout. They work,” he said, adding that the absence of constant public drama does not mean the process has stalled. He dismissed claims that “ORAL is not oralling” as coming from what he termed the usual anti-accountability voices
In his assessment, such critics tend to thrive when state institutions are weak and become restless when the law begins to function effectively. He argued that their skepticism ignores the realities already unfolding within the system.
Professor Asare pointed to individuals who have been surcharged billions, others who are currently standing trial for serious economic crimes, some who have gone into hiding, and those filing what he described as frantic and frivolous applications aimed at stopping audits and legal proceedings.
ORAL is Active and Consequential
For him, these developments demonstrate that ORAL is active and consequential, even if its progress is not always visible in daily headlines. He was clear that when the process reaches its conclusion, the results should not be misinterpreted.
“When convictions, confiscations, and consequences descend like kakai, it will not be vengeance at work, but law, long delayed, now engaged,” he said. In his view, the defining feature of ORAL is that it is anchored in legal procedure rather than political retaliation.
Professor Asare’s comments place ORAL within a broader argument about the rule of law and accountability in public life. He suggested that Ghana’s democracy depends not on how loudly accountability is proclaimed, but on whether institutions are allowed to function without interference.
For him, ORAL represents a test of institutional maturity and legal discipline rather than political will alone. He argued that societies weaken when accountability is reduced to spectacle, and strengthen when the law is allowed to take its course.
In that context, ORAL’s structured, gear-by-gear approach reflects a conscious decision to prioritize sustainability over speed. Each stage, he said, serves a purpose and prepares the ground for the next.
Professor Asare concluded by stressing that accountability is not an event but a process. ORAL, he argued, is designed to ensure that once the gears begin to turn, they do not reverse. In his view, the initiative’s reliance on law rather than noise is precisely why it is positioned to succeed, even in the face of skepticism and political pressure.
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