GHANA’S accountability reckoning entered a defining new chapter this week as the Mahama administration confirmed that no fewer than six former ministers who served under ex-President Nana Akufo-Addo are under active investigation for financial misconduct, procurement irregularities, and causing losses to the state. The disclosures, made publicly on 14 March 2026 by Minister of State for Government Communications Felix Kwakye Ofosu, set the stage for what could become the most consequential anti-corruption prosecution drive in Ghana’s post-independence history.
Kwakye Ofosu, speaking on TV3 Ghana, confirmed that the investigations are being led by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) and are supported by the Mahama administration’s signature anti-graft initiative, Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL). Several dockets, he said, have already been prepared and submitted to the Attorney General’s Department, where they await further legal action. Some individuals have already been interrogated by state investigative bodies.
The announcement comes as the case against former Finance Minister Kenneth Nana Yaw Ofori-Atta — the most high-profile figure in the broader crackdown — enters a tense new legal phase thousands of kilometres from Accra. Ofori-Atta remains detained at the Caroline Detention Facility in Virginia, USA, where he is contesting both immigration proceedings and a formal extradition request filed by Ghana’s government.
“Ghana is resolute that corruption will not be tolerated, regardless of status or political affiliation. Stolen public resources must be returned for national development.”
The Six: Who Is Being Investigated and Why
According to Kwakye Ofosu’s detailed breakdown, the investigations target the following individuals and projects:
Former Health Minister Kwaku Agyemang Manu has been invited and interrogated over the Sputnik V vaccine procurement and COVID-19 frontier testing arrangements at Kotoka International Airport — a scandal that attracted controversy during the height of the pandemic.
Former Energy and Education Minister Matthew Opoku Prempeh, widely known as ‘Napo,’ and other named persons of interest have been questioned over the Free Public Wi-Fi project. The docket for that case has been prepared.
Former Transport Minister Kweku Ofori Asiamah, along with Justice Amo, John Bernard Quartey Yorke, and Michael Achagwe Luguje, are under scrutiny in connection with the Boankra Inland Port project.
Former Finance Minister Mohammed Amin Adam has been invited for questioning in connection with the District Road Improvement Programme (DRIP). His case overlaps with a broader pattern of alleged financial mismanagement within the finance ministry infrastructure.
Former Agriculture Minister Owusu Afriyie Akoto, along with Wilson Kwabena Darkwa and Alhassan Alolo Muntaka — who reportedly served at the Office of the former Vice President — are named in investigations into the Pwalugu Multi-Purpose Dam project.
Additionally, Sarah Femi Bediatuo Asante, Kwadwo Darko-Mensah, Benjamin Kofi Gyasi, Philip Tetteh Padi, and Opoku Prempeh are cited in separate investigations related to digitalisation projects.
Kwakye Ofosu also confirmed that the World Blue judgment debts case involves former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta — adding yet another dimension to the already sprawling legal exposure of the country’s most prominent fugitive minister.
Ken Ofori-Atta: Extradition Battle, US Residency Bid and 75 Counts of Fraud
The Ofori-Atta case has evolved into one of the most internationally watched accountability proceedings on the African continent. The former Finance Minister, who served from 2017 to 2024 under Akufo-Addo, left Ghana on 4 January 2025, ostensibly for medical treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. He has not returned.
By June 2025, Ghana had secured a judicial arrest warrant and placed Ofori-Atta on Interpol’s Red Notice database — though the notice was temporarily removed following a legal challenge by the accused. On 9 December 2025, the OSP transmitted a formal extradition request to Ghana’s Attorney General. On 6 January 2026, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested Ofori-Atta at a luxury apartment complex in Washington, D.C., citing overstay of his visitor visa, which had expired on 27 November 2025.
He has since been held at the Caroline Detention Facility in Chantilly, Virginia, not far from his Washington apartment. His first court appearance — a virtual hearing before immigration judge David Gardey at the Annandale Immigration Court — took place on 20 January 2026. His lawyers successfully requested that proceedings be closed to the public.
“Ofori-Atta’s legal team has described the Ghana proceedings as a ‘political witch hunt,’ claiming the Ghanaian judiciary lacks independence — a characterisation Accra firmly rejects.”
As of this week, Ofori-Atta is pursuing a remarkable legal strategy: his US-based attorney Enayat Qasimi has confirmed to Semafor that the former minister is actively seeking permanent residency in the United States rather than returning to face trial in Ghana. Qasimi argues his client faces a ‘political witch hunt’ and questions the independence of Ghana’s judiciary. A bail application was denied by Judge Gardey, who ruled that the ICE facility provided adequate medical care.
The former minister has assembled formidable legal firepower: he is represented in the US proceedings by former US Attorney General and Missouri Senator John Ashcroft and his law and lobbying firm, alongside Qasimi. Ghana’s Attorney General, Dr Dominic Ayine, has confirmed that the US Department of Justice has received Ghana’s extradition packet and that the charge sheet and summons have been transmitted to Ofori-Atta. The next major hearing in the US immigration case is scheduled for 27 April 2026. In Ghana, the criminal case was adjourned to 26 March 2026.
Ofori-Atta and seven co-accused — including his former Chief of Staff Ernest Darko Akore, former Ghana Revenue Authority Commissioners-General Emmanuel Kofi Nti and Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, former Customs Commissioners Isaac Crentsil and Kwadwo Damoah, Evans Adusei, and Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited (SML) — now face 75 counts of corruption and corruption-related offences after the charge sheet was recently reduced from 78 following technical amendments. All pleaded not guilty.
The prosecution alleges a criminal enterprise spanning 2017 to 2024, in which high-level officials colluded with SML to illegally award government contracts through single-source procurement — bypassing required approvals from the Public Procurement Authority Board and Parliament. The alleged financial loss to the state amounts to GH¢1.43 billion, with payments said to have been made for services that were not performed.
In a significant development, the OSP informed the Accra High Court on 26 February 2026 that the US DOJ has sought advice on whether to arrest Darko Akore — a dual US-Ghanaian citizen — prior to, or after, serving him with a summons. The OSP advised US authorities to adopt the most expedient approach available under their laws.
ORAL: A Year of Frozen Assets and Growing Impatience
The broader accountability drive is anchored in ORAL, which Mahama launched even before his formal investiture on 7 January 2025. The initiative received over 2,000 complaints, all of which were reviewed and submitted to the Attorney General. As of early March 2026, ORAL has resulted in the freezing of GH¢1.5 billion in assets — though Kwakye Ofosu has clarified that frozen assets cannot legally revert to the state until prosecutions are completed and convictions secured.
In his 2026 State of the Nation Address on 27 February, President Mahama conspicuously omitted the word ‘ORAL’ from his remarks — a notable departure from his 2025 address, in which the initiative featured prominently. Political analysts have noted a softening of tone, with Mahama acknowledging public impatience while urging due process: ‘Painstaking investigations must be conducted, dockets must be prepared, charges must be filed, and the accused must have their day in court.’
Former Auditor-General Daniel Domelevo has warned that the credibility of the entire anti-corruption drive now rests on how the Attorney General handles high-profile cases. ‘High-profile cases must be exposed and the guilty prosecuted without delay,’ Domelevo has stated. ‘Public patience is wearing thin, as many Ghanaians no longer believe that corruption cases will lead to consequences.’
The Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) has, separately, recovered over GH¢600 million and prosecuted 15 of 462 investigated cases — a figure Kwakye Ofosu has stressed is distinct from the ORAL pipeline.
The Institutional Architecture: OSP Under Pressure
The OSP, established in 2018 under Act 959, is Ghana’s flagship independent anti-corruption institution, wielding broad investigative, prosecutorial, intelligence-gathering, and asset-recovery powers. As of January 2026, its half-yearly report confirmed 79 ongoing investigations, 8 criminal cases and 10 civil cases at various stages of prosecution, with 7 convictions secured and 33 persons standing trial.
The institution has not been without turbulence. Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng faced an alleged assassination attempt in late 2025, and the OSP sparked a constitutional crisis when it detained a legal practitioner for publicly criticising the office — prompting calls in Parliament to abolish the institution. President Mahama publicly opposed the abolition bill, directing the Majority Leader to withdraw it.
Constitutional review recommendations have meanwhile proposed that the OSP be formally entrenched in Ghana’s constitution as an independent anti-corruption commission with guaranteed resourcing — a reform that would insulate it from future political interference.
A Continental Mirror: Africa Watches Accra
Ghana’s accountability offensive carries significance that extends well beyond its borders. Across the African continent, post-election transitions have frequently produced either impunity for outgoing officials or weaponised prosecutions of political opponents. The Mahama administration has sought to frame its approach as different: rule-of-law-based, institutionally driven, and non-selective.
The extradition of Ofori-Atta — if ultimately secured — would represent a landmark moment not only for Ghana, but for the broader principle that African heads of state and their cabinets cannot insulate themselves from accountability by relocating to Western capitals. That the former minister’s legal team has engaged a former US Attorney General and is seeking permanent US residency underscores how high the stakes have become.
Critics of the Mahama government, however, caution that the distinction between accountability and political persecution is only as strong as the institutions conducting the investigations. The NPP, now in opposition, has characterised several of the probes as politically motivated. The judiciary and the OSP will ultimately determine which characterisation holds.
What is not in dispute is the scale of what is alleged: a decade of procurement abuses, judgment debt schemes, inflated contracts, ghost employees, and fraudulent revenue assurance arrangements that collectively represent one of the most comprehensive audits of ministerial conduct in sub-Saharan Africa’s recent history.
CASE TRACKER: KEY FIGURES UNDER INVESTIGATION
Ken Ofori-Atta, Former Finance Minister
Matter: SML contract / World Blue judgment debt
Status: 75-count criminal case; ICE detention; extradition pending
Mohammed Amin Adam, Former Finance Minister
Matter: District Road Improvement Programme (DRIP)
Status: Invited and interrogated
Matthew Opoku Prempeh, Former Energy & Education Minister
Matter: Free Public Wi-Fi; digitalisation projects
Status: Questioned; docket prepared
Kweku Ofori Asiamah, Former Transport Minister
Matter: Boankra Inland Port project
Status: Under investigation
Kwaku Agyemang Manu, Former Health Minister
Matter: Sputnik V procurement; COVID airport testing
Status: Invited and interrogated
Owusu Afriyie Akoto, Former Agriculture Minister
Matter: Pwalugu Multi-Purpose Dam
Status: Under investigation
