The Member of Parliament for Effia, Isaac Boamah-Nyarko, has said that despite the legitimacy of the government’s decision to investigate past officials under the Akufo-Addo administration, there is the need for it to ensure due processes are being followed.
His comment comes on the back of the ongoing investigations by the Attorney General and the Office of the Special Prosecutor (ORAL team) into activities of certain past appointees.
According to him, the current administration seems to be more focused on scoring political points than fighting corruption genuinely in the country.
“If government has a reason to investigate and prosecute any past appointee, it is in order for them to do that, but due process is always supposed to be respected. The fundamental human rights of every human being must be respected. The fact that you are investigating someone doesn’t make him a criminal,” he said.
He added that the government is creating unnecessary media hype around the investigations to gain popularity.
“And so if not for political mischief or trying to make noise in the media, or trying to make noise in the minds of Ghanaians, I don’t think if you are investigating someone, you should make noise about it. All you do is to complete your work and make sure that if the people are guilty, the court pronounces on them. If we need to take refund from them, we take our properties from them then put them behind bars,” he stated.
Speaking to GhanaWeb’s George Ayisi at Parliament, the MP described the government’s actions as “political manhunting” and “witch-hunting,” suggesting a lack of fairness and objectivity.
He further asserted that the government lacks true commitment to the fight against corruption and is instead engaging in political prosecutions marked by double standards.
“People are calling it political manhunting and witch hunting because of the way the government is going about things. We’ve been in this country when the president came into office, appointed an Attorney General, two days after, he withdrew all cases against his people, now you are coming to prosecute others that you are yet to investigate. That tells you the double standards of the government. And it means the government is not committed against the fight against corruption. It is doing political prosecution,” he added.
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Africaweb – Ghana