Kofi Bentil, the Vice President of IMANI Africa, has said that a government appointees making bad decisions in government is not a crime.
According to Kofi Bentil, the bad decision becomes a crime if it can be proven that the decision was made to profit oneself corruptly and also caused financial loss to the State.
Speaking on the Key Points current affairs programme on TV 3 on Saturday, 17 January 2026, Kofi Bentil stated, “I have said publicly that any prosecutor who charges in a high-profile case like this with over seventy-eight charges is not serious.”
“I don’t think the charges are serious. Making bad decisions in government is not a crime unless we can prove that you made decisions to profit yourself corruptly, caused financial loss to the state, or you had intentions,” Kofi Bentil stated.
Kofi Bentil further added that Ken Ofori-Atta would like to return to Ghana but fears how he will be treated.
He added, “I know that Ken will love to come back, but he is apprehensive of how he will be treated because of the kinds of things that have been said and done in the past one year”.
“It is not about the charges he is afraid of, he is afraid of the treatment he will get…nobody is above the law, so Ken Ofori-Atta is not above the law. If, for some reason, he has to come and face whatever, Ambassador Smith says he thinks he will come and face it, but he is afraid of how he will be treated.
“I am saying that based on everything, his apprehension is that even though he is a sick man who has gone through all these surgeries and he is recuperating and whatever it is, he does not think that he will be treated well, like what Ambassador Smith is saying,” he stated.
He added, “My point is that if there is a way to try this man, go ahead and do it. We who are close to him think that what Ambassador Smith said is the truth. Ken would like to come, he is not above the law, not so we are not asking for special treatment, but what will it take for us to facilitate his coming so he will subject himself to these things”.
Also, Victor Emmanuel Smith, Ghana’s Ambassador to the United States of America, has revealed a phone call he received from Ken Ofori-Atta’s cousin, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko.
According to Ghana’s Ambassador to US, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko told him the former finance minister wants to return to Ghana but fears how he would be treated.
Speaking on TV3’s The KeyPoints on January 17, Ghana’s Ambassador to the US stated, “Gabby called me and said Ken wants to come, but he is afraid of how he will be treated’.
” So I told him I wanted to meet Ken and give him the assurance that he will be taken through the legal process, because the Attorney-General, Dr Ayine, gave me that assurance,” Ambassador Smith said.