President John Mahama Friday expressed commitment to dealing with all persons found to have been involved in corruption-related activities by the Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) committee.
The president, who was delivering remarks during the swearing-in ceremony of newly approved ministers of state, revealed he will be receiving a report from the ORAL committee in coming days and will channel efforts towards implementing the anti-corruption team’s findings.
“Upon receipt of this report, appropriate action will be taken against those who are deemed to have acted against the economic and financial interests of this country through corruption and related acts,” President Mahama said at the Jubilee House.
President Mahama noted that while accountability in public service had to be encouraged, it was more effective to prevent the corruption-related acts from occurring. For that reason he expressed commitment to holding his ministers to the “strictest standard of accountability”.
In the aftermath of his election victory in the December polls, then President-elect John Mahama constituted an anti-corruption team dubbed ORAL to gather information on government corruption perpetrated by the outgoing administration and its officials.
The members of the team are Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, a former Auditor-General, Daniel Domelevo; a retired Commissioner of Police, COP (Rtd.) Nathaniel Kofi Boakye; legal practitioner, Martin Kpebu and Raymond Archer who is an investigative journalist.
Currently, three of the five-member committee have been appointed to separate positions under the Mahama Administration.
Mr. Ablakwa is the new Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nathaniel Kofi Boakye has been given a leading role in the security apparatus at the presidency while Raymond Archer has been named Deputy Director of the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO).
It remains unclear if the appointed members will resign or the body will be reconstituted under a government department.
Meanwhile, the opposition New Patriotic Party have stood strongly in opposition to ORAL since its establishment in December.
This has led the Minority Leader in Parliament, Alexander Afenyo-Markin to refer to the team as unconstitutional.
