Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, has lauded President John Dramani Mahama’s efforts to recover stolen state resources through the establishment of the defunct Operation Recover All Loots (ORAL) Committee.

“I can confirm that the principles of ORAL strongly undergird every decision I take as Minister for Foreign Affairs,” said Mr Ablakwa, who is the former Chairman of the defunct ORAL Committee, which was a cornerstone of President Mahama’s campaign and a legitimate popular demand of the Ghanaian people.

He made this statement when he took his turn at the Government Accountability Series held at the Presidency in Accra.

He noted that some of the ORAL successes at the Foreign Ministry included:

The reclaiming of all the Ministry’s land at Airport Residential Area, which had been sold.

Aborting the illegal sale of Ghana’s diplomatic property in Lagos, Nigeria, and assisting National Security to arrest the prime suspect, Mr Bright Mensah Bonsu, who received a part payment of $1.5 million that was not paid into any government account.

Reversing the ministry’s initial decision to sell Ghana’s diplomatic property in Lusaka, Zambia; stating, “I have made it clear that no sale of the Ministry’s landed properties will be tolerated. Pursuant to that, we have established an asset register to take proper inventory of all our assets.”

Cancelling a November 2024, $3.5 million Abidjan Embassy renovation contract, which did not follow due process.

He said they were boldly and decisively dealing with the canker of corruption at Ghana’s Washington DC mission and carrying out systemic overhauls.

Ablakwa added that to guarantee value for money, transparency, and accountability, no contract had been awarded on a single-source basis since he became Foreign Minister.

He explained that there was strict instruction to the procurement department to ensure that all procurement was competitive and complied with the Public Procurement Act.

The Minister also mentioned that from passport courier companies, ticketing companies, the Passport Head Office annex, cleaning contracts, to staff buses – every single contract had gone through a competitive and credible process.

“Competitive procurement is no longer the exception,” he said.

“I am able to disclose that ORAL does not enjoy only local support; there is overwhelming international support for ORAL, which our ministry has been facilitating with other institutions of state,” he added.

“We shall continue with our international collaboration as we support President Mahama and the Attorney-General to make ORAL succeed.”

Mr Ablakwa said, for instance, during President Mahama’s recent historic state visit to Singapore, an agreement was reached to support ORAL by creating a bilateral framework to build the forensic capacity of Ghana’s anti-corruption institutions, including the Economic and Organized Crime Office, the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice, the Office of the Special Prosecutor, and the Police Criminal Investigations Department – taking into account Singapore’s globally celebrated anti-corruption reputation.