President John Dramani Mahama has made an emotional public appeal to former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta to voluntarily return to Ghana, insisting that he would receive a fair trial as the government continues legal processes to secure his extradition.
Speaking during his tour of the Volta Region, President Mahama said Ofori-Atta should demonstrate confidence in the country’s judicial system if he believes he has done nothing wrong.
The President recalled the period when more than 80 Members of Parliament from the then-ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) petitioned former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to remove Ofori-Atta as Finance Minister.
According to Mahama, the former minister’s own response at the time should now guide his actions.
“I do believe that even by virtue of holding a position like that, for many years almost until the end of the regime you held the most sensitive position as Finance Minister,” President Mahama stated.
He noted that when pressure mounted for Ofori-Atta’s removal, the former minister likened himself to a father who could not abandon his children.
“At a 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.”
Using that analogy, President Mahama appealed directly to the former Finance Minister.
“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,” he said.
The President questioned Ofori-Atta’s decision to remain outside the country while investigations and legal proceedings continue.
“Just the act of fleeing if you’re a man of principle and you believe you’ve done nothing wrong, I don’t see why you should flee your own country,” he remarked.
President Mahama assured that Ofori-Atta would be treated fairly under Ghana’s justice system if he returned to face any legal proceedings.
“We’ll see what the legal regime is and how it proceeds. But whatever it is, if he’s brought back, he will have justice. We believe in the judicial system of our country. He will have the best of lawyers to defend him,” the President said.
He warned, however, that refusing to return could permanently cast doubt over the former minister’s legacy.
“But if he doesn’t come back, then it means that he leaves a cloud of doubt over his head forever, and his children, and his grandchildren,” President Mahama added.
The President concluded by saying the government would allow the legal process to take its course, stating, “We’ll see how things play out.”
The remarks come as the government pursues legal avenues to secure the return of the former Finance Minister to Ghana in connection with ongoing investigations, with authorities maintaining that due process will be followed throughout the proceedings.
By 1960news.com
