The Operation Recover All the Loot (ORAL) committee has presented its anti-corruption preparatory report findings to President John Dramani Mahama. This report was presented by the chairman of the committee Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.
According to the Foreign Affairs Minister and chairman of the ORAL committee, who submitted 2,417 total complaints to the office of the presidency, 1493 calls and 924 emails were received on the toll free line that was setup for the public to report cases to the team.
“I was tasked to be the chief servant of the preparatory team. We swung into immediate action. We set up channels of communication consistent with the mandate that the president-elect at the time gave us”
Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Chairman of the ORAL Committee
He gave an account of the toll free line; 0809111, website; www.oralgh.org, and email address; public@oralgh.org that they set up with the help of patriotic “experts” who volunteered their services, along with the impact generated.
“We received 1,493 calls through the toll free line. We also received 924 emails. Fortunately, all of these calls are recorded automatically and all the emails have also been preserved for verification and validation. So in total, the number of complaints received amounts to 2,417”
Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Chairman of the ORAL Committee
The new government’s anti-corruption team, made up of former auditor general, Daniel Yao Domelevo, C.O.P Nathaniel Kofi Boakye, legal practitioner Martin Kpebu, and investigative journalist Raymond Archer with Hon. Okudzeto Ablakwa as its chairman has by this official handing over of their investigative report brought to an end the mandate for which they were constituted and commissioned.
“Over the last fifty three days we have reviewed these petitions, 44 were received directly from civil society organizations and other public spirited citizens. 59 of the 230 cases reviewed containing the documents we’ll be submitting today were cases that had come up during the period the NDC was in opposition but we decided to go back to those matters and carry out a detailed review”.
Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Chairman of the ORAL Committee
Of the overwhelming number of cases reported, Hon Ablakwa remarked “where would all of these people have gone if President Mahama had not set up the oral preparatory team? So President Mahama has been vindicated”.
He gave a quick overview of the cases that came across their desks. These included government lands that had been sold to “government officials, Members of Parliament (MPs) and ministers of state” for as low as GHc 46,000 cedis, a “giveaway” that he described as “very sad”.
Though he expressed not wanting to go into details, the chairman of the committee highlighted 10 already realized benefits of ORAL thus far, even without the commencement of its second phase.
He mentioned that “ORAL has deepened transparency and accountability” by increasing “public awareness about the need to protect state assets”. He added that the operation “saved 50 bungalows that were on the verge of being demolished”, bungalows he informed belonged to the state and its institutions.
He clarified that even though the team didn’t physically prevent these demolitions they worked with the appropriate bodies to ensure the right thing was done.
“We did not carry out any fiscal operation on the ground. We only report to national security, and then they act. We also collaborated with National Security to save the Northern Development Authority lands at Cantonments.
“A private developer overnight on the eve of the president’s inauguration moved in overnight to erect a wall dividing the property into half. Some of you are conversant with that land, it’s just opposite the US embassy, very prime land”.
Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Chairman of the ORAL Committee
He trudged on about the “many savings, loot prevention efforts and halting of state asset captures that ORAL championed all over the country over the course of its duty.
Some of these included saving “a good number, hundreds of state vehicles”, the lands at the Dubois Center, large portions of the Agric. mechanization lands at Cantonment, the staff quarters belonging to the Ghana Museum’s and Monuments Board.
Additionally, he praised ORAL for providing a “non confrontational channel for citizens to address concerns on the looting of state assets” as opposed to the normalized chaos that often characterize government transitions when people convinced of corruption under the previous government decide to take matters into their own hands.
“ORAL also created a platform for persons of interest to reach out, seeking an opportunity to refund and return what belongs to the Ghanaian people. Quite a number of persons of interest have reached out that they are willing by whatever approach, to just have their peace and return or probably pay the real value for the land that has been given to them”
Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Chairman of the ORAL Committee
More so, he added that the ORAL initiative has also attracted phenomenal international requests for forensic collaboration to recover the loot hidden offshore.
The culmination of this all inclusive speech was an indication that phase 1 of the operation had come to an end, with the finer details contained in the reports submitted.
“So, we want to renew our appreciation, and deep gratitude to his excellency, the president, and his team of advisers for this initiative, which has really served Ghana well. And, we look forward to the next phase even if we will not be involved”
Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Chairman of the ORAL Committee
Since the ORAL committee was set up to serve as a whistleblower for the attorney general department, President Mahama handed over the stacked documents containing the reports of the committee to the attorney general’s office for continuity of the operation.
The president charged Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, the new attorney general at the ORAL presentation, to commence investigations into all the cases reported immediately. This was the official start of phase 2 of ORAL.
This phase kicks off with investigations and would involve “the actual recoveries, the actual retrievals” of state wealth in cash and in kind from all individuals who are guilty of robbing Ghana.
On the part of the figures, Hon. Ablakwa made informed projections on how much money could be retrieved by ORAL if successful.
“The 36 cases that we have reviewed in detail, if we are successful in recoveries, we can retrieve as much as 20.49 billion United States dollars… and that’s from National Cathedral, PDS, MS, SML”
Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Chairman of the ORAL Committee
This was an indication that Ghana stands to recover even more money should the other 194 cases see successful ends too.
“Then we’ve also done an estimate of the state capture” he added, highlighting the fact that if people who have looted lands were asked to even pay their “conservative” market value, the state could recover about 702,800,000.0 United States dollars for the Ghanaian people. In total, the committee estimates 21,190,000,000.00 United States dollars can be raised from the high cases that were put together.
He went ahead and mentioned other avenues that would contribute to the recovered fortunes of the country by the time the operation was concluded.
“You have the GNPC, salt pond decommissioning open session, we will not go into greater detail and so I want to be restrained, but, there’s a great deal of resources belonging to the taxpayers that can be retrieved”
Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Chairman of the ORAL Committee
Joyce Bawah Mogtari, presidential advisor and special aide to the President took to an online medium to express her optimism at the progress of the ORAL committee and cement the President’s commitment to end corruption in Ghana.
“This is what Ghana needs at this time and President Mahama has consistently demonstrated his commitment to the fight against corruption. A great milestone for the future of our country”
Joyce Bawah Mogtari, Presidential Advisor and Special Aide to the President.
President Mahama commended the work of the committee after their presentation, received their report and in his brief address sternly warned that Ghana was “no longer a safe haven for corruption”.
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