Ghana’s fight against corruption has taken a dramatic turn as new investigations by the Attorney General’s Office and the Office of the Special Prosecutor uncover what officials describe as one of the most far-reaching webs of graft in the country’s history.
The revelations, tied to the “Operation Recover All Loot” initiative, have revived anger over how the Akufo Addo administration handled public resources and fuelled calls for accountability at the highest levels of government.
At the centre of the storm is former Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta, a cousin of ex-President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, who has been declared wanted by the Special Prosecutor for alleged corruption and causing financial loss to the state. Investigators say Ofori Atta oversaw questionable contracts and misused state funds, including a controversial deal with Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited and the unaccounted 58 million dollars spent on the National Cathedral project.
The report also points to the mishandling of funds from the Tax Refund Account at the Finance Ministry and the termination of key energy contracts without due process. Taken together, the findings suggest what the OSP described as “a deliberate pattern of financial opacity” that cost Ghana hundreds of millions of dollars.
The list of accused officials extends beyond the Finance Ministry. Former Minister of State Charles Adu Boahen, whose name first surfaced in the “Galamsey Economy” exposé by journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas, has been cited for influence peddling and accepting bribes in exchange for access to top government figures. He denies wrongdoing, but prosecutors say his case fits a wider pattern of corruption under the previous administration.
The scandal has also reached the doorstep of New Patriotic Party power broker Bernard Antwi Boasiako, known as Chairman Wontumi. His associate, Thomas Andy Owusu, pleaded guilty to bribery and illegal mining-related offences earlier this year. Wontumi himself has been charged with facilitating unlicensed mining and the illegal assignment of mineral rights. He has been granted bail of fifteen million cedis and had his passport seized.
Investigators say these developments contradict Akufo Addo’s earlier defence of Wontumi, when he insisted the party chairman had no involvement in galamsey. The revelations now suggest the president ignored wrongdoing within his own circle.
The corruption trail also runs through the food and education sectors. Hanan Abdul Wahab, former head of the National Food Buffer Stock Company, is facing prosecution for allegedly diverting seventy-eight million cedis meant for school feeding programmes into private accounts. The Economic and Organised Crime Office has frozen his assets, including houses, cars, and bank accounts.
Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, former Education Minister, is also under investigation for a sixty-three million cedi contract for mathematical sets awarded without competitive bidding. The probe has raised questions about how educational procurement was managed under Akufo Addo’s leadership.
The cumulative effect of these findings has lent new weight to a warning made years ago by Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, now Minister for Forestry and Natural Resources. As Deputy Minority Leader, he once said Akufo Addo “will be remembered as a president who did not know how to govern a country.” What was once dismissed as partisan talk now reads, for many Ghanaians, as prophecy fulfilled.
The “Operation Recover All Loot” report submitted earlier this year records more than two thousand corruption-related complaints under Akufo Addo’s government, with an estimated twenty billion dollars in recoverable assets lost through inflated contracts, offshore transfers, and uncompleted projects. The scale of the alleged losses has drawn global attention, with international media describing Ghana’s situation as a key test of whether its democratic institutions can truly hold the powerful to account.
For many citizens, the revelations confirm long-held suspicions that the former president’s pledge to protect the public purse ended in scandal and betrayal. Critics argue that Akufo Addo knew, saw, and chose to do nothing while his closest allies enriched themselves at the expense of the nation.
Now, attention turns to President John Dramani Mahama and whether his government will break with the past. Ghanaians are watching closely to see if prosecutions will be fair and far-reaching, or if the country will fall back into what many describe as a cycle of “selective justice.”
The question that lingers is whether Ghana’s courts will have the courage to convict those once considered untouchable. Whatever the outcome, the Akufo Addo years will likely be remembered not for their promise of transformation but for exposing how deeply corruption can run when loyalty trumps accountability.
Story: Julius Blay JABS
