ORAL is a good beginning to fight corruption – Adei

Despite his problem with the composition, A former Rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Professor Stephen Adei,  said the set-up of the Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) team is a good beginning in the fight against corruption.

Prof Adei said he is in full support of any drastic measure to fight corruption.

He however says that the composition of the Ablakwa-led Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) team could have been much better than what has been presented.

In his view, the inclusion of known members and sympathizers of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) on the team makes the exercise political, a development he said will make the outcome difficult to accept and respect by all.

Speaking on the Hot Issues on TV3 on Sunday, December 22, he said “First of all, there is no legal basis for ORAL unless after 7th January they make a law, it can only be investigative and advisory. But it shows hopefully [Mahama’s] seriousness to deal with cprru0tion. ORAL as it is, I think is one that does discovery and passes it on to the appropriate authorities.

“I think it should be kept as it is in terms of trying to unearth things and holding OSP, EOCO, and CHRAJ accountable and following them up and prosecuting. The people on it I like them in terms of their competence but most of them are definitely NDC sympathisers or pure NDC. This is what really makes some of our efforts undermined.  What do you expect my nephew Ablakwa to do? He would have to do something against the NPP. There are many non-NPP, and non-overtly NDC who are competent and capable.

“For example, if you put Emil short, everybody will respect the outcome, he is not going to be bamboozled by an NPP person so the composition could have been a bit better than this. If you put Domevelo in, that is Ok, but If you put Domevelo, Kpebu , and Ablakwa, you could have brought in the likes of Emil Short. Their job is not legal, if they ask anybody they can refuse to talk to them.

“It can be a very good beginning but they must be very careful it doesn’t get seen as just NDC or NPP. Corruption should be dealt with surgically and as a spirit I support it.”

Meanwhile, the Chair of the ORAL, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has said that their work will end immediately after an Attorney-General is appointed by President John Dramani Mahama,  approved by Parliament and is sworn into office.

He stated that the report that they had gathered would be forwarded to the Attorney-General for further actions to be taken.

Mr Ablakwa said this on the Key Points on TV3 on Saturday, December 21.

Further commenting on this matter, another member of the ORAL team Martin Kpebu also said on the same show “As the chair said, we are going to give the report to the A-G…the committee as a committee will no longer function.

“The government will set up the appropriate frameworks and when that is done, we will not function as the committee.”

For his part,  Old Tafo lawmaker Vincent Ekow Assafuah said that members of ORAL are just throwing out figures and allegations of corruption against innocent people without any basis.

He argued that the ORAL team members are putting out figures and issues without explaining the details of the figures.

Also speaking on the Key Points on TV3 on Saturday, December 21, he said “They are just playing to the gallery, doing politics with it and hunting innocent people. They are bound to fail.

“The members of the ORAl team are opening up themselves for defamation suits,” he added.

Mr Assafuah further stated that the ORAl is not a body backed by law.

He said “This is an unconstitutional body that has no legal basis. It is simply a populist approach. We have institutions, solid institutions like EOCO, OSP, and CHRAJ that can deal with issues of anti-corruption. The committee doesn’t have investigative and prosecutorial powers.”

Also commenting on this matter, the Executive Director of the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), Mary Addah said there were better approaches that President-elect John Mahama should have adopted as part of his plan to fight corruption.

She indicated this after describing ORAL as a populist idea.

In her view, this has just been formed to appease the public. Speaking on the Key Points on TV3 on Saturday, December 21, she stated that they have no reservations about members of the team.

However, she said “We are people who must be guided by the past about what has happened…we have seen similar committees being formed before. Akufo-Addo put in place several committees.

“We have the institutions of a state, the better approach for Mahama was to have directed the people to to send their concerns to the OSP, or CHRAJ. We are a people who have decided that we will pursue a democracy and this has built institutions for us. So if leadership wants some people to rather receive the information and send it to the institution then there is an issue, we support the call to fight corruption, and we want to see it in action but our institutions must be allowed to do this process.

“This is a populist idea of receiving complaints from the public.”

President-elect John Mahama earlier stated that the team is not going to investigate anybody.

Mr Mahama clarified that the team is only a focal point to revive information on acts of corruption by officials for onward submission to the state bodies to act on them.

He said “With regards to ORAL, I announced the preparatory committee and people are confused. We are receiving a lot of information on things that are going wrong, corruption scandals and all that., some send me texts on my phones, some call me, others pass through other people. We want a focal point where all the evidence can be directed so that they can assemble the evidence once we come into office.

“ORAL is not going to be investigating people, it is going to gather evidence and pass on the evidence to the institutions that are supposed to do that kind of work. If people have information that they think is useful in the fight against corruption, pass it on to the team.  the team is not expecting any payment, there is no budget associated with it.”