Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama has reaffirmed his commitment to recovering state funds looted by corrupt individuals.
In a statement made during the presentation of reports by the Oral committee on Monday, February 10, 2025, Mahama emphasized that Ghana’s resources belong to the people and must be used for their collective good.
“The diversion of public funds for personal gain undermines development, erodes public trust, and deepens inequality,” President Mahama said.
To address this issue, the president launched Operation Recover All the Loot ( ORAL), an initiative aimed at restoring wrongfully taken state funds to their rightful owners, the Ghanaian people.
President Mahama commended the members of the Operation Recover All the Loot team for their dedication and professionalism in carrying out their duties without compensation or expectation of remuneration.
He stated that the team’s meticulous investigations, legal actions, and asset recoveries demonstrate the government’s seriousness in tackling corruption and promoting good governance.
The president assured Ghanaians that the recommendations of the report will be carefully studied, and legal action will be taken against those found liable for corruption or related offenses. “Every Pesewas recovered will be channeled back into national development, and mechanisms will be strengthened to prevent such losses in the future,” Mahama said.
In a strong warning to those who think they can defraud the state and escape justice, Mahama declared, “Ghana is no longer a safe haven for corruption.”
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Meanwhile, the Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) team has stated that a significant portion of the corruption-related cases presented to President John Dramani Mahama on Monday, February 10, will require thorough auditing to establish wrongdoing and determine the appropriate legal actions.
The call for audits follows the team’s extensive efforts to compile corruption-related complaints from various sectors, culminating in a report detailing over 2,417 cases.
During a discussion on the Citi Breakfast Show on Tuesday, February 11, Daniel Domelevo, a member of the ORAL team, underscored the need for an independent and in-depth financial and procurement audit to establish the veracity of the allegations.
Speaking with host Bernard Avle, the former Auditor-General clarified that ORAL lacks the legal mandate to investigate cases independently and, as a result, the necessary agencies must conduct forensic audits to verify breaches before any legal actions can proceed.
He further stressed that ORAL’s primary role was information gathering, not investigation.
“The President promised he was going to recover all loot and after the elections, he was inundated by messages of reported corruption and so he thought it wise to put us together to collect those information and so what we presented yesterday was on corruption and corruption related cases, financial fraud and procurement breaches.
“The bulk of it needs auditing to establish those had procurement breaches and cases that were not in line with the laws of Ghana because we didn’t do any investigation. We don’t have a mandate to investigate, ours was to collect information.
