President John Dramani Mahama has told Ghana’s embattled former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta to return to Ghana as the government pursues legal processes to secure his extradition.
Mahama recalled that Ken Ofori-Atta once described himself as a father responsible for his children.
Speaking during the Reset Tour and Citizens’ Engagement in the Volta Region on Friday, July 17, Mahama stated, “You held the most sensitive position as finance minister and at the point when your own members of parliament, 80 of them signed an application that the president should remove you, you said something historic, you said you are like the father of children and that you can’t run away and leave your children”.
President Mahama added: “So if we Ghanaians are your children, we are calling you, we are begging you, father come back, your children are calling you to come back.”
“If you are a man of principle and you believe you have done nothing wrong, I don’t see why you should flee your own country,” he said.
President Mahama also spoke about the extradition process, which he says must follow the law and respect the rights of the person involved, adding that because the extradition involves another jurisdiction, the process requires the submission of a formal request and a determination by a court in the country where the individual is located.
“Extradition or return of fugitives from justice, it’s a legal process and so you need to respect the rights of the person at the same time,” he said.
“The Attorney General’s Department has done its best; it filed the application, there are some additional documents that were asked for that it is filing, and eventually it will all go before an American judge to make a decision,” he said.
In related news, Martin Amidu, a former Special Prosecutor, has said the embattled former Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, must be an idiot if he voluntarily returns to Ghana to subject himself to investigation and possible prosecution.
Mr Amidu cautioned Ken Ofori-Atta not to return to Ghana to subject himself to ongoing investigations and possible prosecution against the advice of his lawyers.
According to Martin Amidu, the ongoing investigations and possible prosecution against Ofori-Atta are a political witch-hunt, which has become nauseating to him.
In a strongly worded statement, Martin Amidu claimed President John Dramani Mahama is using state agencies to persecute his political opponents for future electoral benefits.
Martin Amidu alleged that President Mahama has chosen Ken Ofori-Atta to be the face of this playbook.
Martin Amidu in his statement stated, “Ken Ofori-Atta must be an idiot if, after advice from his lawyers, both national and international, he voluntarily returns to Ghana to subject himself to investigation and possible prosecution after the government machinery was used at taxpayers’ expense to mount a consistent trial in the court of public opinion (instead of in a court of law) of alleged suspected corruption and corruption-related offences against him. The case of Diezani Alison-Madueke, who got justice in the United Kingdom, not Nigeria, is a guide”.
He further argued that laws governing the prosecution of corruption in the country are not being applied in Ofori-Atta’s case.
Amidu added, “The provisions of the 1992 Constitution on the fundamental human rights and freedoms guarantee everybody in Ghana expansive rights and freedoms to life, liberty, human dignity, equality and freedom from discrimination, protection of home and property, fair trial, and the general fundamental freedoms.
“Ordinary citizens and public office holders of whatever rank are equally guaranteed these rights and freedoms when it comes to the investigation and prosecution of crime. The Constitution treats crime as crime for everybody: it prohibits political crime for public office holders and crime for other citizens,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has clarified that former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta’s trial in absentia can only proceed once the US authorities have formally returned proof of service.
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