Mahama Struggles To Explain ORAL’s Focus

President-elect, John Dramani Mahama is struggling to explain the focus of his anti corruption initiative, Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL). The initiative was a campaign promise by Mr Mahama.

Earlier this week, he appointed a five-member team to spearhead preparations for the implementation of the ORAL. Members of the team are, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa – Chairman; Daniel Domelovo-Former Auditor-General; COP(Rtd.) Nathaniel Kofi Boakye; Martin Kpebu-Private Legal Practitioner, and Raymond Archer-Investigative Journalist.

Concerns
However, many people have raised questions about the focus of the ORAL and the team formed to spearhead its activities.

Critics of the initiative see it as a move to witch-hunt political opponents.

Kofi Opare Hagen, a lawyer, took to social media to raise some critical questions. “There will be no ORAL! The mandate of President Mahama only goes as far as establishing a Commission of Enquiry. And if he does, everyone who appears before the Commission will have automatic immunity. Simply put, nothing they say before such a Commission can be used against them in any further proceeding.

“That’s because there is a constitutional right against self-incrimination. That is ancillary to the right to silence.

“However, in shaping the laws on Commissions of Enquiries, we bargained that right to compel the attendance of persons and to compel their testimonies. In exchange for that bargain, we gave them immunity. So no Commission can ever have the power to recover any loot.

“It is the Police and OSP who have that mandate. Unless of course, the funfair will end with a report to those institutions, which will itself create another legal obstacle. The ORAL thing is counter-intuitive. They didn’t reason through it.“

Explanation
Attempts by Mr Mahama to defend the initiative have not been smooth-sailing. The President -elect accepts the fact that there is confusion in the minds of many Ghanaians about ORAL.
“People are confused,” he said.

“ORAL is not going to be investigating people,” he clarified. “