Manasseh Azure Awuni, an award-winning investigative journalist, has stated President John Dramani Mahama seems to relish Akufo-Addo’s nickname as the Chief Clearing Agent.
According to Manasseh Azure, Ghanaians deserve to know the basis for the government’s mass discontinuation of court cases against officials and associates of the previous Mahama administration.
Manasseh Azure asserted that cases such as the prosecution of the Democracy Hub protesters may not be surprising that those charges are dropped.
He wrote, “ I nicknamed Akufo-Addo the Chief Clearing Agent, and Mahama seems to relish that title. Let us not forget that the persons Akufo-Addo cleared and publicly defended were not all clean. Pius Hadzide, for instance, who was cleared of his involvement in the Australia visa scandal, publicly confessed his role when he was campaigning to be the MP for Asuogyaman in the just-ended election.
If the government clears all its party people standing trial, the people whose power the government exercises must be given sound reasons. Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) cannot succeed when its implementers are engaged in Operation Clear All Looters (OCAL)”, he wrote.
Manasseh added that for a president vowing to reset Ghana and prosecute government officials who have stolen or caused money to be stolen from the public purse, the mass clearance is a wrong start.
The investigative journalist added, “ I produced a documentary on those ambulances (titled “Grounded Wheels” on YouTube), and I had no doubt the ambulance procurement was a scandal. I was surprised at the fixation on Jakpa and Ato Forson, while officials of the ministry that procured the ambulances and labelled them substandard after failing to inspect them before shipment were left untouched.
Had the procurement not been a scandal, the Mahama administration would not have moved the ambulances from the forecourt of the State House and hidden them at the Air Force Base in Burma Camp. People were dying for lack of ambulances, and the movement was to keep the problematic vehicles from the public eye. I entered and filmed the ambulances for my documentary, and some of the defects matched the inspection report that labeled them unfit for use as ambulances”.
Manasseh Azure asserted that the Attorney-General must not truncate prosecution just because he has the power to do so.
See his post below:
CHIEF CLEARING AGENT
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Ghanaians deserve to know the basis for the government’s mass discontinuation of court cases against officials and associates of the previous Mahama administration.A few of the cases, such as the prosecution of the Democracy Hub… pic.twitter.com/qmcnSJAKBu
— Manasseh Azure Awuni (@Manasseh_Azure) February 10, 2025
