Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL): Hope or Hype?

Dear President-Elect Mahama,

Like I said in my previous letters, I represent a section of young Ghanaians who believe that this country deserves leadership that listens, acts, and delivers in the sole interest of Ghana and that so far, we are yet to find such a leader. You, Mr. Mahama, are exhibiting signs of such a leader and so we are watching wide-eyed as the clock ticks down—just a few days until you officially take office on January 7, 2025

Anyway, Mr. President-Elect, congrats on putting together a team for the Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) agenda. It’s the core of my writing today.

The individuals you have chosen for this preparatory team inspire hope. With their reputations and expertise, they symbolize the seriousness with which you intend to pursue this bold vision.

For instance, as a no-brainer, the team is led by Mr. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, MP. North Tongu and the most painful thorn in the flesh of the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia administration. He has constantly, personally and in his position as the Chairman of the Assurances of Committee of Parliament, investigated and revealed shocking corruption within the government. Some of those who admire what he is doing call him the “Interceptor General.”

The second person on the team, Mr. Daniel Domelovo, Former Auditor-General, is the most qualified to be on the ORAL Team because he is the only one that I can say for sure has no political leanings, absolutely detests any form of corruption and has fought corruption to the highest level. I can say this because I know the man personally and publicly.

Others on the team are COP (Rtd.) Nathaniel Kofi Boakye, who many acclaim should’ve been an IGP by now, Lawyer Martin Kpebu-Private, a Private Legal Practitioner who is popular in the media for critiquing the government, and Mr. Raymond Archer, my senior in Investigative Journalism.

Since the team was announced on November 18, 2024, I have watched, read, and listened to quite a plethora of discourse on your decision to establish a “Preparatory Team” for the ORAL.  Some say it is unconstitutional; others say it is unnecessary and a duplication of already existing state institutions like the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO). I’ve heard from NPP folks, I’ve heard NDC folk and I’ve heard from national opinion leaders like Mary Ada of the Ghana Integrity Initiative. Some people even argue there should’ve been a woman on the team.

What’s for sure, Mr. President-Elect, is that there is massive support for the ORAL agenda, maybe more massive than your winning percentage in the election. And certainly, the larger Ghanaian folk love your move to start work right away by creating what is now known as Team ORAL.

But, is ORAL a solution or just a political vendetta?

Mr. President-elect, the ORAL agenda sounds bold, decisive, and refreshing. I love the idea. But it is only a small piece of a much larger puzzle. While the promise to recover stolen state resources is commendable, the reality is that Ghana’s corruption problem cannot be solved by merely going after looted funds. It is a systemic crisis, deeply ingrained in our governance structures, institutions, and, quite frankly, our political culture.

I am young enough and old enough to remember that when Akufo-Addo took office in 2017, he launched investigations into your NDC administration. The EOCO, the Special Prosecutor’s Office, and other agencies delved into scandals like the GYEEDA mismanagement, SADA’s guinea fowl project, the Metro Mass bus branding saga, the National Communications Authority’s $4 million procurement fraud, and Cocoa Road contracts riddled with alleged overpricing.

Despite the noise, what did these investigations yield? Prolonged court cases, selective justice, and accusations of political witch-hunting. Some individuals faced trials, but the system remained broken. The Akufo-Addo administration promised to “protect the public purse,” yet their tenure became a catalog of scandals, arguably the most corruption-ridden since Ghana’s independence—PDS, Agyapa Royalties, the Auditor-General’s dismissal, the resignation of the first OSP, Marting Amidu, the Labianca saga and whole dossier of others. Corruption in Ghana is like a weed; you can’t just pluck the leaves. You must uproot it entirely.

Ghana’s corruption problem is not just about who stole what; it’s about the environment that allows public officials to steal with impunity. It’s about opaque procurement processes, untraceable campaign financing, and a bureaucracy that rewards inefficiency. These are the root causes ORAL must address if it’s to be meaningful.

As you prepare to relaunch Ghana’s anti-corruption fight, will ORAL fall into the same trap? Will it be reduced to a partisan tool for scoring political points, or will it become the start of genuine systemic reform?

Let me digress a little.

The Electoral Commission’s re-collation of results in nine constituencies has caused widespread unease. The reversal of earlier declarations that favored the NDC, resulting in the loss of seats, has cast doubt on the integrity of the electoral process.

While the courts will ultimately decide the outcome, this controversy underscores a broader issue: public trust. Ghanaians no longer trust institutions to be impartial arbiters of truth. This erosion of confidence extends beyond the EC to the judiciary, the police, and even Parliament. For your administration to succeed, you must rebuild this trust. Without it, your ORAL agenda will be viewed with suspicion and dismissed as another tool for political retribution.

In any case Mr. President-Elect, you are no stranger to power. Between 2012 and 2016, your administration faced significant corruption scandals that tarnished your legacy and provided your opponents with ammunition to brand your government as corrupt. In your second coming, will history repeat itself, or will you rewrite your story? Ghanaians are watching to see if you’ve learned from your past mistakes. Will you enforce stricter accountability measures within your government? Will you hold your appointees to higher ethical standards? Will you resist the temptation to shield loyalists implicated in wrongdoing?

Mr. President-Elect, it is not I who should tell you that corruption in Ghana is a multi-headed hydra. It thrives not just on the looting of state resources but also on the inefficiencies and dysfunctions of our governance systems. ORAL, as ambitious as it sounds, addresses only the symptom, not the disease.

The disease is a lack of transparency in procurement processes. It’s about unregulated campaign financing that allows corporations to “buy” political influence. It’s about a Parliament that rubber-stamps executive decisions instead of holding them to account because some parliamentarians are also ministers of state; unfortunately, this misnomer is constitutional. It’s about a judiciary that many perceive as compromised; it is about an EC that seems to be serving the government of the day because as they say, “he who pays the piper calls the tune.”

The story of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) is a sobering reminder of how lofty anti-corruption promises can fail. Established with much fanfare by President Akufo-Addo, the OSP was meant to be a game-changer. Instead, it has been plagued by underfunding, political interference, and infighting. The lesson here is clear: institutions, not slogans, fight corruption.

Please manage expectations.

I have seen how swiftly the Team ORAL convened an initial meeting just a day after the announcement. They’ve pledged to work pro bono. In the words of the chairman, “The ORAL Team …has resolved to work gratis. We shall not be receiving salaries, allowances, per-diems, or fuel coupons.” Great move. We love it.

Since then, I’ve seen him make a touchscreen analysis of a list of the first 30 corruption cases they’ve listed which he says, if investigated and such monies received, should recover for Ghana as much as over 18.4 billion US Dollars. He says the Team has at his last checks received more than 700 evidences of corruption and state capture. That’s all well and good.

But will all this money be actually and legally due to the state? Can the government get even half of it for real?

It is the outgoing president of America, Mr. Joe Biden who once said, “Corruption is a cancer, a cancer that eats away at a citizen’s faith in democracy, diminishes the instinct for innovation and creativity.” I agree with him. Unfortunately, as Pope Francis said in a 2014 Morning Mass in the Vatican, “Corruption is paid by the poor.”

That is why your energy towards fighting the canker is admirable. That is why Team ORAL has mass support. But ORAL should be part of a broader effort to reform our institutions and restore public trust.

Ghanaians are tired of empty promises and political vendettas. We are yearning for genuine leadership—leadership that prioritizes integrity over convenience, systems over slogans, and the national interest over party politics.

In 14 days, the mantle of leadership will be yours. The question is: will you rise to the occasion, or will this be a repeat of history?

The clock is ticking. Ghana waits.

Also from the author:

Mahama’s 120-Day Promise: Bold Vision or Political Rhetoric?

About the Writer:

Theodore Abiwu [Efo] Korku Mawutor is the Vice President of the Institute of Liberty and Policy Innovation (ILAPI). He is a Multimedia Journalist and a fellow of the Journalists in Social Protection, (JISOP) Ghana.