Director for Advocacy and Policy Engagement at the Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Dr Kojo Asante, has called for a thorough investigation into the explosive claims made by former boss of the National Signals Bureau (NSB), Kwabena Adu-Boahene.
This, he stated, will prove if the allegations by the senior national security official is backed by credible evidence.
Dr. Asante’s comments follow the emergence of a memo written by Adu-Boahene to the National Security Coordinator, in which he alleged that over GH¢8 million was disbursed to opposition parties to support logistics for the 2024 general election.
The memo also claims that GH¢49 million—currently the focus of a criminal case against Adu-Boahene, was used for covert national security operations.
Additionally, GH¢5.1 million was reportedly spent on luxury vehicles for the office of the then president-elect.
Speaking on The Big Issue on Channel One TV on Saturday, Dr. Asante cautioned that allegations suggesting inducements to state institutions—including Parliament—must be taken seriously, but only after verifying the facts.
“If this claim is substantiated, that payments were made to other state bodies, including Parliament, for the passing of legislation, as some sought a bribe or facilitation, those things have to be investigated.
“It has to be established that this is true, then we take the next step. Rather than the invitation to start going off on a tangent of investigations when the processes themselves to establish the facts have not been exhausted,” he said.
Dr. Asante also commented on the recent protests by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and affiliated groups in response to President John Dramani Mahama’s suspension of Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo.
He noted that the political tension surrounding the judiciary stems from longstanding governance issues.
“What started all these, you can go as far back as 2013, is a governance problem. It is the governance arrangement around the discretion that the Chief Justice has when it comes to paneling on cases, for not having a cap on the number of justices and how those functions and power have been exercised, and the discussions these have generated among the political class, particularly around the position of bias around petitions.
“The history is very clear, once we started going to court to challenge the validity of elections, the Supreme Court became even more politicised. If we don’t find other non-legal ways of addressing this, it will become a real issue,” he added.
