The Thin Line Between Justice and Vendetta: 'Political Witch-Hunting' Versus 'State Accountability' Under the Current Administration

The recent 20-year sentence handed to NPP Ashanti Regional Chairman Bernard Antwi Boasiako (Chairman Wontumi) for illegal mining offences has re-opened a historical wound in Ghana’s body politic. Instantly, the familiar battle lines were drawn. The New Patriotic Party (NPP) leadership decried the judgment as a "political witch-hunt," while anti-corruption crusaders hailed it as a victory for the rule of law.

But this is an old script in Ghanaian politics. For decades, whenever a high-profile politician or public official faces the prison gates, their party claims "political vendetta" while the sitting government claims "accountability." From the landmark Quality Grain convictions of 2003 to the 2026 Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) pursuit of former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta over the SML tax audit deal, Ghanaians are left asking: Are we witnessing the impartial hand of justice, or is the courtroom merely an extension of the political battlefield?

To understand the present, we must critically examine the historical facts, look at who we have jailed in the past, assess shifting public opinions, and evaluate the explosive new battleground: the Public Tribunals Bill of 2026.

Memory Lane: A History of High-Profile Convictions

To understand if the system is truly biased, we must look at the specific legal facts that sent prominent public officials to prison under previous administrations:

• Victor Selormey (2001): The former NDC Deputy Finance Minister was jailed for defrauding the state of $1.3 million by transferring public funds to a private consultancy for a Court Computerisation Project that was never executed.
• Kwame Peprah (2003): The former NDC Finance Minister was sentenced to four years in prison during the Quality Grain Scandal for willfully causing a $20 million financial loss by approving unbacked state loan guarantees to an American rice project.
• Ibrahim Adam (2003): The former NDC Agriculture Minister received a two-year sentence in the same Quality Grain case for failing to perform due diligence before recommending state funding for the fraudulent venture.
• Dr. George Sipa-Adjah Yankey (2003): The former Ministry of Finance Legal Director was jailed for two years for his role in executing the legal and financial frameworks that enabled the Quality Grain losses.
• Dan Abodakpi (2007): The former NDC Trade Minister was sentenced to 10 years for causing a $400,000 financial loss regarding an ECOWAS feasibility study, though his conviction was later quashed by the Court of Appeal in 2009.
• Tsatsu Tsikata (2008): The former GNPC Chief Executive was sentenced to five years for causing a GH¢230,000 loss by bypassing his board to guarantee a state loan for a private cocoa farm that defaulted. He was later pardoned and fully exonerated in 2016.
• Eugene Baffoe-Bonnie (2020): The former NCA Board Chairman was jailed for six years for his part in siphoning $3 million from a $4 million state cyber-security procurement package.
• William Matthew Tetteh Tevie (2020): The former NCA Director-General was sentenced to five years for signing off on the illegal transfer of state funds without mandatory board approval.
• Alhaji Salifu Mimina Osman (2020): The former Deputy National Security Coordinator received five years for facilitating the illicit distribution of the NCA funds. He was pardoned in 2023 on health grounds.

The Modern Frontier: Ofori-Atta and the Pwalugu Dam

The debate has evolved from the 1960 Criminal Offences Act (Act 29) to modern environmental regulations and specialized anti-corruption offices:

• Ken Ofori-Atta & The SML Scandal: The OSP's 28-count corruption charge against the former Finance Minister is viewed domestically as necessary accountability. Conversely, an international US Immigration Judge recently granted Ofori-Atta a green card, labeling the OSP's case "not credible" and a "political prosecution based on political animosities."
• The Pwalugu Dam Project: Parliament recently revealed that a contractor absconded with $11.9 million for the Pwalugu Dam without laying a single brick. While the state targets the contractor via the Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) initiative, partisan critics call it a calculated attempt to smear political legacies.

Public Opinion: A Nation Deeply Divided

Public discourse surrounding the balance of power between prosecutors and politicians reveals a deeply fragmented country:

• The Sceptical Public: Many Ghanaians view the OSP and state attorneys through a partisan lens, believing that prosecutions are timed strategically to destroy political rivals rather than protect state resources.
• The Demand for Results: A substantial portion of the population is exhausted by chronic state corruption and supports aggressive legal action, arguing that politicians routinely hide behind the "witch-hunt" narrative to escape accountability.
• Data Insights: A July 2026 poll by Global InfoAnalytics showed that 63% of Ghanaians actually support establishing fast-track tribunals to address severe case backlogs. However, civil society groups and organized labor remain highly concerned about the potential abuse of parallel judicial structures.

The New Battleground: The 2026 Public Tribunals Bill

This friction has reached a boiling point with NPP flagbearer Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s televised appeal to President John Dramani Mahama, urging him to withhold assent to the controversial Public Tribunals Bill, 2026.

Why Bawumia is Appealing to President Mahama:

• Bypassing Democratic Processes: The bill was rushed through Parliament using an absolute majority. Lawmakers waived the mandatory one-day interval between the consideration stage and the third reading, effectively silencing minority objections and public debate.
• Fear of a Parallel Justice System: Dr. Bawumia warns that creating special tribunals alongside conventional courts risks undermining public confidence in the mainstream judiciary.
• Reviving Past Pain: The bill allows individuals who are not lawyers to sit on panels for criminal matters. This revives dark memories of the revolution-era public tribunals, which lacked traditional constitutional protections.
• Ignoring Constitutional Expert Counsel: He pointed out that the government's own Constitution Review Committee previously recommended abolishing regional tribunals, making this new bill a direct step backward.

What Bawumia Seeks to Achieve:

• Advocating for Systemic Strengthening: Instead of establishing entirely new, vulnerable structures, Bawumia wants the state to resolve court congestion by strengthening the existing system through digitization, better infrastructure, and appointing more judges.
• Building a Non-Partisan Coalition: By aligning his rhetoric with the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and organized labor—who have loudly opposed the bill—he is framing himself as a defender of national consensus.
• Protecting His Faction from Weaponized Justice: By publicly warning that state institutions should not be reduced to political tools to harass opponents, Bawumia seeks to shield public figures from potential prosecution via swift, fast-tracked tribunal systems that lack due process.

Recommendations and Suggestions for Ghana

If Ghana is to break this exhausting cycle of partisan legal warfare, structural reforms must be implemented immediately:

1. Separate the Ministry of Justice from the Attorney General: The Attorney General's prosecutorial powers must be completely decoupled from the political cabinet. The chief prosecutor should be an independent, non-partisan legal entity.
2. Strengthen and Insulate the OSP: The Office of the Special Prosecutor must have its funding protected by constitutional formula, and the appointment of the Special Prosecutor should require a two-thirds majority in Parliament to ensure bi-partisan trust.
3. Codify the Discretionary Line in Financial Loss Laws: Parliament must amend Section 179A of Act 29 to clearly distinguish between a poor policy judgment made in good faith and deliberate criminal corruption. This will stop incoming governments from criminalizing honest administrative mistakes made by predecessors.
4. Standardize Internal Sanctions: Political parties must stop shielding their own while in power. Rogue officials should be handed over to independent courts during their party's tenure, exactly as seen in the rare case of Chairman Wontumi's recent galamsey conviction.

Ghana cannot build a robust democracy on the shifting sands of selective justice. When we view every trial through an NDC or NPP lens, we degrade the integrity of our courts and grant a psychological pass to those who mismanage our resources. Chairman Wontumi’s 20-year sentence, Ken Ofori-Atta's ongoing legal battles, and the ghosts of the Quality Grain scandal all point to one clear reality: public office is a sacred trust.

If you violate procurement laws, siphon state funds, or destroy our water bodies through illegal mining, you belong in jail. The law must bite—not because of the color of the party card in your pocket, but because of the gravity of the crime committed against the Ghanaian people. True accountability will only arrive when we stop cheering for the downfall of our opponents and start demanding equal, transparent justice for all.

✍️ Retired Senior Citizen
For and on behalf of all Senior Citizens of the Republic of Ghana 🇬🇭

📍 Teshie-Nungua
📧 akpaluck@gmail.com

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