ORAL List Corruption: Foreign Affairs Minister Ablakwa Must Seize Suspects Passports

Respectfully, I am appealing to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, to start seizing the passports of holders whose names are on the oral list and to be investigated. Even though, the Mahama’s administration is seriously fulfilling its promise by trying to recover embezzled state funds and looted state properties by issuing an arrest to certain individuals, there are others who know the crimes they have committed and wish to flee the country whether their names are on the ORAL list or not.

The NPP is under heat since many have regretted for underestimating Mahama's government's ability to combat corruption. Under the previous government, it was as if corruption, money laundering and all negative factors affecting the country and the people, are part of the Constitution. Therefore, the majority of the NPP politicians who thought there will never be any political change in Ghana, deeply created wealth in the realms of corruption as if there is no tomorrow or the future.

The arrests of high-profile NPP politicians, such as the Ashanti Regional Chairman, Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, and the former National Signals Bureau Director Kwabena Adu-Boahen, and the invitations of other NPP officials, including the vice presidential candidate Matthew Opoku-Prempeh, by the Bureau of National Investigation (BIN) and the Economic Office of Corruption (EOCO) and Organized Crimes have not only put corrupt NPP politicians in fear but have also made them want to flee the country.

The Attorney General, Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, occasionally comes out to brief Ghanaians about the names of people or organizations involved in corruption since the NDC took office a little more than five months ago. Already, many institutions, such as the COCOBOD, SSNIT, ECG, and the oil industry, have already been negatively impacted by corruption, leading to either huge debts or bankruptcy. Therefore, the BIN's persistent invitations to suspects have been a nightmare to many NPP politicians.

These are some of the reasons why it is highly likely that many have already made the decision to leave the country. Even though the foreign affairs minister has revoked diplomatic passports that were issued by the former government to several NPP politicians, many of them still have their regular passports with them, which could easily help them flee Ghana. Therefore, to prevent these criminals who aren’t interested in accountability to flee the country, significant steps must be taken to prevent that.

The media is not covering everything; therefore, the public is not aware of many things happening in the country. For example, many NPP politicians involved in major corruption scandals have voluntarily stormed at the NIB's facilities to either return looted property or embezzled money. More importantly, some NPP politicians would prefer their corrupt colleagues leave the country than be arrested and prosecuted. Ghanaians were taken aback, for example, when Kofi Bentil declared that "he will advise Ken Ofori-Atta not to come to Ghana."

Kofi Bentil claims that since Ken Ofori-Atta offered him a job to help him succeed in the business world, he shouldn't be held accountable for his misdeeds. Most NPP politicians, including Akufo-Addo and Mahamudu Bawumia, have the same personality as Bentil. The NPP's profitable business model included corruption and money laundering, which had a negative effect on the populace, the economy, businesses and investments, yet they don’t believe in one-percent of accountability.

The fact that the NPP politicians are desperate to regain power after only five months out of office but are unwilling to face the consequences of their crimes, gives me the impression that the party is a reckless, corrupt, greedy and conceited government. The opposition NPP doesn't care about the plight of the people it neglected for eight years under the Agyapadie administration. This dangerous political group should never be allowed to rule Ghana again because the party is an underworld clan.

I hope that Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the minister of foreign affairs, would take this article seriously and take prompt action to stop anyone whose name is on on the ORAL list from fleeing the nation. After investigation those who are not guilty would have their passports back.