RETRACTION AND APOLOGY TO DR JOHN OSAE-KWAPONG
This article has been updated to reflect the exact words used by Dr John Osae-Kwapong. An earlier version of this article had wrongly attributed what another panel member said to Dr Osae-Kwapong in relation to the example of the two out of the over 2400 cases in the ORAL report currently in court. No where in any of Dr John Osae-Kwapong's submissions did he make these statements. He rather did talk about the expectations created and the government being a victim of its own promises and therefore Ghanaians are expecting them to deliver on ORAL.
Dr John Osae-Kwapong, a governance expert, has said the government’s handling of corruption cases under the Operation Retrieve All Loot (ORAL) report, vis-a-vis the political promises and engagements with the people, makes the current government a victim of its own political promises.
According to Dr John Osae-Kwapong, a fellow at the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) government created legitimate expectations through its campaign messages despite knowing the institutional limits that could delay delivery.
"So the heat that they [current government officials] are facing is justifiable," he said.
He was contributing to discussions on Joy FM’s Newsfile programme on Saturday [October 11, 2025], where it had been mentioned that out of the about 2,400 cases submitted by the Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) initiative, nine months after President John Dramani Mahama took office, only two prosecutions have started as of now.
"Imagine when the ORAL report was done, the funfair and all of the accompanying statements, of course, you do raise the expectations of the people that all of these bad things have happened, then please recover our monies. You promised certain particular results, " he said.
Attached below is a video from the programme
“The heat that they are facing is justifiable,” he said. “You promised certain results. What the public is waiting for is to see those results,” he stated.
Dr Osae-Kwapong said the NDC’s campaign message had created unrealistic expectations about the timeline for corruption prosecutions, noting that due process often clashes with public impatience.
“The certainty with which you promise those results is what the public is waiting to see,” Dr Osae-Kwapong said. “Nobody sees due process. You can’t touch it, you can’t feel it. But everybody can see a convicted person in handcuffs or being sent to jail.”
The host of the programme, Samson Lardy Anyenini had referred to campaign claims that raised public expectations, including allegations against former National Investigations Bureau (NIB) boss, Nana Agyei Ampofo, who was accused by ORAL of paying GH¢160,000 for a land valued at $700,000.
“What do you want the person sitting out there to think?” he asked. “Should they agree with you when you say, ‘Oh, they should put a caveat that we don’t want to convict innocent people,’ when you had already told them this man has stolen land?” Samson Anyenini said.
Dr Osae-Kwapong in his submission criticised politicians for failing to caution voters that corruption prosecutions take time.
“Nobody ever said, ‘These things take time. It can take years because the wheels of justice grind slowly. We want to make sure we don’t convict innocent people,’” he said. “Nobody said that to the public.”
RETRACTION AND APOLOGY TO DR JOHN OSAE-KWAPONG
This article has been updated to reflect the exact words used by Dr John Osae-Kwapong. An earlier version of this article had wrongly attributed what another panel member said to Dr Osae-Kwapong in relation to the example of the two out of the over 2400 cases in the ORAL report currently in court. No where in any of Dr John Osae-Kwapong's submissions did he make these statements. He rather did talk about the expectations created and the government being a victim of its own promises and therefore Ghanaians are expecting them to deliver on ORAL.
