Former Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu has called on President John Dramani Mahama to launch an urgent investigation into the raid on the residence of former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta.
On February 11, 2025, a group of individuals, including some in military and police uniforms, stormed Ofori-Atta’s residence in Cantonments while he was out of the country. His wife and other family members were present at the time. The raiding team consisted of approximately 12 individuals—five in military uniforms, one in a police uniform, and the rest in plain clothes.
Ofori-Atta, who has been in the U.S. for medical treatment since the beginning of the year, had notified both the former and current Chiefs of Staff, Frema Osei-Opare and Julius Debrah, about his travel. Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng later dismissed the raid as a staged event and declared Ofori-Atta wanted in connection with corruption-related offenses.
In a statement issued on February 14, Amidu urged the President to initiate an independent and impartial probe to determine whether Agyebeng’s declaration was linked to the invasion of Ofori-Atta’s home. He emphasized that the public deserved to know whether the raid had any connection to the Special Prosecutor’s decision to declare Ofori-Atta a fugitive.
“The nation has a right to know the motive and reasons behind the Rambo-style invasion of the former Minister’s home in his absence under the watch of the President, who serves as Chairman of the National Security Council,” Amidu stated.
He further questioned the involvement of Richard Jakpa, alleged to have led the raid, and whether he would have taken such action if the Ambulance case appeal was still pending before the Supreme Court. Amidu argued that the timing of the invasion, following the withdrawal of Jakpa’s case by the new Attorney-General, raised serious concerns that warranted an impartial probe.
He also expressed skepticism about the Special Prosecutor’s claims that Ofori-Atta had staged the invasion himself, noting that the alleged involvement of the Office of the National Security Coordinator in the raid only deepened suspicions of collusion between state agencies.
“The electorate will want to know through a thorough and impartial investigation whether the invasion of Ken Ofori-Atta’s home, as captured on CCTV, had any link with the declaration of him as a fugitive from justice,” Amidu stressed.
He called on President Mahama to demonstrate strong leadership by ensuring that all those involved in what he described as an unlawful invasion are brought to justice. According to Amidu, Ghanaians voted for a government that upholds the rule of law, not one that engages in politically motivated operations against individuals.
He concluded by stating that Ghana must move forward, not backward, and that ensuring accountability for such incidents is crucial to maintaining public trust in the government.
Full Statement by Martin Amidu
Martin A. B. K. Amidu writes:
Mr. President, I discussed this pervasive coup mentality with you less than a month ago, and now you need to face it squarely with firm leadership without any prevarication this time round on the brakeless bicycle speeding with you as the rider again downhill towards political disaster unless you wake up from slumber with decisive and preventive action.
The electorate will want to know through a thorough and impartial investigation whether the invasion of the home of Ken Ofori-Atta, as shown on excerpts of the CCTV, had any link with the declaration of Ken Ofori-Atta as a fugitive from justice by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), which exercises prosecutorial executive power on your behalf.
The coincidence of the alleged emergence of Richard Jakpa’s presence, apparently leading the invasion of Ken Ofori-Atta’s home with officials admittedly being from the Office of the National Security Coordinator, and the OSP casting Ken Ofori-Atta as having staged the invasion himself to derail the OSP’s investigations, gives the perception of a collaboration between the Office of the National Security Coordinator and the OSP—unless disproved by an independent and impartial investigation.
The nation has a right to know the motive and reasons for the Rambo-style invasion of the former Minister’s home in his absence under the watch of the President, who serves as Chairman of the National Security Council under which Mr. Richard Jakpa and his men operate.
The invasion of Ken Ofori-Atta’s residence, allegedly led by Richard Jakpa, whose appeal was pending in the Supreme Court when the Attorney-General just appointed by President Mahama withdrew the case, is an even more pressing reason to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation into the incident. Would Richard Jakpa, if he really led the invasion of Ofori-Atta’s home on February 11, 2025, have done so if the Ambulance case on appeal was still pending in the Court?
The answer is no. The involvement of Richard Jakpa in the Ken Ofori-Atta home invasion debacle calls for the unearthing of the linkages, interconnections, and interwovenness of all the variables in the chain of authorization and enabling processes that led to this Rambo-style invasion of a citizen’s home and privacy.
Mr. President, who is better placed under your Oath of Office to determine whether an appeal pending in the Supreme Court constitutes a political witch-hunt or a genuine case of prosecutable criminal conduct—an Attorney-General exercising prosecutorial authority on your behalf or a Supreme Court properly vetted by Parliament and appointed under the 1992 Constitution?
Let the justifications for the exercise of the Attorney-General’s prosecutorial powers be told to the marines and drunken sailors, not to those of us who exercised those powers for decades, beginning in October 1988, when others were nowhere near the legal profession.
Experience, not missing dockets from the Attorney-General’s Office, counts! The President needs to walk his talk by ensuring that all those involved in this despicable invasion and other violations of citizens’ rights and freedoms are brought to trial before the ordinary courts in accordance with due process.
Ghana must move forward, not backward, to the injustices of the past. That is what the electorate voted for—not media manipulation to deflect the gravity of such unlawful acts by government agents.
