By Christopher Arko
Accra, Feb.14, GNA – The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has criticised Mr Kissi Agyebeng, the Special Prosecutor, for describing former Finance Minister, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, as a fugitive from justice.
The Party said it was odd and baffling that Mr Agyebeng could make a basic mistake in labelling Mr Ofori-Atta, who had not been charged with any offence and remained in contact through his lawyers, as a wanted individual or fugitive.
Speaking at a press conference in Accra on Thursday, Mr Henry Nana Boakye, the National Organiser of the NPP, maintained that the former finance minister was not evading accountability and that he had written to both Chiefs of Staff (former and current) informing them of a medical treatment he was seeking outside the country.
“Mr Ofori-Atta can never be a fugitive. He is not a fugitive, and he will never be a fugitive. The Office of the Special Prosecutor got it wrong. Once Ofori-Atta’s doctors declare him fit and healthy, he will return to the country,” Nana Boakye said.
It would be recalled the Special Prosecutor, at a press briefing on Wednesday, accused the former minister of failing to comply with a legal order to return to Ghana.
He accused Mr Ofori-Atta of causing financial loss to the state through various transactions, including the National Cathedral project, and the Ghana Revenue Authority’s partnership with Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Limited.
Mr Boakye bemoaned the OSP’s “sensational statements”, which he said provoked public emotions and created unnecessary drama, emphasising that the matter could have been adequately resolved through proper correspondence.
He disclosed that on 11th February 2025, 12 men; one police officer, four military personnel, and seven unidentified individuals in plain clothes, raided Ken Ofori Atta’s home.
Video footage of the raid revealed that Richard Jakpa, the third accused in the ambulance trial, led the raid.
“Thirteen men accompanied him into the residence, all armed to the teeth,” Nana Boakye said.
He criticised the Government’s directive to revoke public service appointments made after December 7, 2024, and said that was regressive and potentially detrimental to democratic governance in Ghana.
“The President’s directive to the Chief of Staff instructing heads of government agencies to nullify all public service appointments made after December 7, 2024, is poorly conceived, illegal, and profoundly damaging to hardworking Ghanaians.”
He said the decision contradicted the core principle of job creation, which the ruling party once promised through its 24-hour economy policy.
GNA