It is emerging that Ghana stands to rake in billions of dollars in revenues if the state is able to recover just even a small portion of alleged loot carried by the officials of government and institutions of the state.
A preliminary report submitted by the Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) Preparation Team reveals that their analysis reveals that the government stands the chance to benefit from US$20.49 billion if recovery of the looted state resources is taken seriously.
Interestingly, the chairman of the ORAL committee, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa further reveals that the over US$20 billion is just from 36 analyzed cases from a total of 2417 cases submitted by Ghanaians to the committee.
The High Street Journal’s analysis reveals that with the country’s estimated GDP of about US$ 80 billion, the estimated recovery gain of about US$20 billion represents about 25% of the country’s GDP. This signifies that the country stands the chance of raking in significant resources if the ORAL Team’s estimates from the scandals and corruption-related cases are correct.
Some of these cases, the chairman announced include the National Cathedral Scandal, the botched PDS saga, the SML deal among others.
“The 36 cases that we have reviewed in detail if we are successful in recoveries we can retrieve as much as $US20.49, just 36 cases. That’s from National Cathedral, PDS, SML, and GNPC Saltpond Decommissioning. There is a great deal of resources belonging to the taxpayers that can be retrieved,” Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa revealed.
Presenting their report to President John Dramani Mahama on Monday, February 10, 2025, the Minister for Foreign Affairs further indicated that experts’ analyses have also revealed that just stolen state lands alone if reclaimed and priced at conservative market value could also fetch the state another US$702. 8 million.
The Chairman of Team ORAL added, “We’ve also done an estimate of the state capture the lands if we successfully ask people to pay conservative market value for the lands they have looted Again, the experts are telling us that we can recover about US$ 702.8 million for the Ghanaian people.”
Accepting the preparatory report from the committee, President Mahama forwarded the report to the Attorney-General, Dr. Dominic Ayine tasking him to prioritize the implementation of the recommendations of the committee.
President Mahama further pledged to commit all funds recovered from the alleged loot to the national development agenda.
“The recommendations of the report will be carefully studied and where legal actions and investigations are warranted, they will be pursued without fear or favor. Every pesewa recovered will be channeled back to national development and mechanisms will be strengthened to prevent such losses in the future,” President Mahama pledged.
The ORAL team believes that if all cases are pursued aggressively, the country could see an unprecedented financial windfall, bolstering national revenue and funding key development projects.
Anti-corruption advocates and financial analysts are urging the government to fast-track recovery efforts, enforce legal actions against those implicated, and ensure full transparency in the process.
With Ghana facing economic hardship, rising debt, and currency depreciation, the potential recovery of over $20 billion offers a critical lifeline to stabilize the economy and restore public trust in governance.
