I have been marking exam scripts for WAEC and have as such been out of coverage area minding my business. However, this week, matters on the political landscape shook me out of my corner. I heard on the news that Alex Segbefia had insisted due process was the best way to go about prosecuting corruption-related offences.
I pray his statement “will you be there forever” makes a meme paired with a worthy Bob Marley or Buju Banton song. I then heard Martin Kpebu, verbatim, protesting at the arbitrary arrest of the NPP’s Dennis Miracles Aboagye at the Kotoka Airport, on his return from a trip.
The most shocking of all these sudden calls for due process was made by the NDC’s Abraham Amaliba who said: “What we should be doing is to put pressure on the security agencies and to let them know that we are now in a democratic setting and we are guided and governed by the Constitution.”
It was, however, extremely laughable for him to attempt to absolve the Mahama Government of these arbitrary arrests and onerous bail conditions and go on to blame “the state security apparatus who have failed us.”
The 1992 Constitution is 34 years old, Amaliba. Ghana did not become a democracy a few weeks ago. And then, all the heads of the state security apparatus agencies were appointed by President John Mahama and report directly to him or someone he has appointed. Raymond Archer? Yaako Donkor? Christian Yohuno? Charles Kipo? Etc etc
Earlier on, in January this year, were we not in “a democratic setting” when you gleefully sat on TV and announced that Attorney General Dominic Ayine had sponsored the revoking of Ken Ofori-Atta’s US visa to circumvent due process in order to have Ofori-Atta deported to Ghana?
Is Dominic Ayine a member of the state security apparatus? Is he not the legal heartbeat of the Mahama Government? Your longed-for deportation never happened and, in a twist, Ofori-Atta has recently been granted permanent residence in the USA.
Like many Ghanaians against corruption and the misuse of taxpayers funds, I was perturbed at that state of affairs and have spent the past few weeks chasing my Florida State University lawyer classmates
for some more information about what led to this twist. An email finally arrived bearing parts of the transcript from the court’s ruling that in my opinion are not only shocking, but also incredulous and unbelievable.
The court in addressing Mr Ofori-Atta averred:
“The court finds that the criminal charges that have been brought against you by the Office of the Special Prosecutor in Ghana are — do not have any basis and are not credible.
You, by contrast, have testified credibly, presented significant evidence indicating that you were not engaged in criminal wrongdoing and the court has find — finds that you have established that the — the positive equities in your case far outweigh the — any negative equities, and on that basis, the court will grant your request for adjustment of status.”
This totally shocked me. Ah! How? From the transcript, it appears the Special Persecutor sent to the US the same drivel he had sent to Interpol and once again played “nonsense” – this time in a US court.
Unsurprising! Months ago, in an article, I warned Kissi Agyebeng against his perceived beef with the AG, after news broke that he refused to share the CCF Red Notice deletion report, and advised him to go and
humbly learn at his senior’s feet? Oyiwa!
The most painful part is that the the Special Persecutor sent an affidavit of 200 plus long pages of nonsense and nothingness to the United States. Ay3ka! Ghana bears this shame.
The court continued further:
“The court would note that it has great experience in reviewing and considering allegations of corruption among government officials, fraud and embezzlement and similar wrongdoing.
The court carefully reviewed the Office of the Special Prosecutor’s affidavit and the court finds that the affidavit is lacking in any persuasive proof or evidence that the respondent engaged in any — has engaged in any criminal wrongdoing as alleged, as minister of finance or otherwise, or that the respondent personally profited from his work as a government official in Ghana.
The lack of any persuasive evidence indicating any kind of criminal wrongdoing or criminal conspiracy involving the respondent in the OSP’s affidavit is powerful evidence. The respondent has not been credibly charged or credibly been shown to engage in any wrongdoing in Ghana.
The OSP affidavit is full of conclusory allegations without any description of credible or reliable facts that would indicate any kind of criminal wrongdoing by the respondent. Court has also reviewed the findings of Interpol and its decision to delete the red notice that was issued based on the criminal charges by the OSP in Ghana…
And in February of 2026, the CCF issued a decision deleting the red notice and finding that it was predominantly political, that had been issued by the government of Ghana. This is evidence supporting a conclusion that the charges of criminal wrongdoing by the respondent in Ghana are unsupported and that the respondent has not engaged in such — credibly engaged in such criminal wrongdoing.
Clearly, the Office of the Special Prosecutor from Ghana is alleging deep corruption by the respondent involved in a criminal conspiracy and in stealing the funds of the country of Ghana. However, the court finds, based on its review of the evidence, that the Office of Special Prosecutor has not presented any proof in its — in its long affidavit or in the criminal charges to credibly support any claim of wrongdoing, criminal or otherwise, by the respondent.
And the court also considers the fact that the United States Department of Justice has been in possession of the request for extradition from the government of Ghana for a significant period of time and yet no extradition complaint has been sought by the United States Department of Justice based on the request by Ghana and the OSP’s prose- — claim to prosecution.
And the court is not surprised, given that the court’s own review of the OSP affidavit does not indicate any persuasive evidence of any criminal wrongdoing by the respondent and also given the deletion of the red notice by the — by Interpol. But this — again, the lack of any criminal complaint for purposes of extradition indicates that the Department of Justice also has trouble indic- — finding any indication of any credible claims of criminal wrongdoing by the respondent…”
In conclusion, the court stated:
“And to the respondent,
Mr. Ofori-Atta, I know that you’ve been through a difficult period of time, that you were detained based on these criminal charges that were brought against you in Ghana, that your health suffered as a result as you were detained based on the criminal charges.
And you have had your day in court and you have established that you are entitled to adjustment of status and that’s why I have granted your application. I understand what you must have gone through but the — I — the court believes that the system works and that you have presented testimony in a adversarial proceeding and have established your rightful cause for relief….sir, I wish you and your family well going
forward…”
Day in court? System works? Interesting! Giving a dog a bad name and hanging it is NOT due process. It is NOT the Rule of Law. If the Mahama government sponsored the transmission to the US, via diplomatic channels, the OSP affidavit as well as its charges considered hogwash, trash and chaff by a competent court in the US, after INTERPOL had already binned those same documents, then the Mahama government should bow its head in shame and its appendages should not waste our ears with their pontification about due process.
You who called Interpol on a man based on bogus charges? You who sidestepped due process to sponsor the revocation of a Ghanaian citizen’s visa based on these same spurious charges leading to his detention by ICE for three months whilst recovering from cancer? You who had your Ambassador in the US chirping happily that he had hand-delivered a 200 plus page affidavit of tripe, junk and plain rubbish to US Department of Justice authorities? Spare us!!!!
P.S. Supreme Court retired Justice William. Atugubah’s claim, without evidence, in the recent DF Annan memorial lecture that a certain Appiah Kubi lost his seat because of his “bold uprising” against Ken Ofori-Atta is further proof that the Rule of Law and it’s associated pursuit of due process will continue to be a utopia in Ghana. Justice Atugubah appears to have totally missed Parliament’s failed vote of censure against Ofori-Atta.
Is it enough for someone to scream allegations on the rooftop about another loud enough that an observer assumes the victim of these unsubstantiated allegations is the reason the alleger lost his parliamentary seat?
Maybe, Ghanaians should not blame the Special Persecutor entirely for the failure of his 200 plus page affidavit to stir a US competent court to send Ofori-Atta back to us. Rather, it should blame the system that allows unsubstantiated allegations against political opponents to be bandied about so widely, that propaganda becomes the “truth”. Tweaaaaa!
By G.A. Agbesinyale (Political Activist, Human Rights Advocate, Citizenship Rights Promoter, Social Justice Warrior)
