Dr Joshua Zaato is a policy analyst and senior lecturer at the University of Ghana
A Policy Analyst and Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana (UG), Dr Joshua Zaato, has challenged the fairness and impartiality of the government’s anti-corruption drive, Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL).
Speaking on TV3’s The Key Points on October 25, 2025, Dr Zaato questioned the Attorney General, Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, on his decision to file nolle prosequi (a formal notice of abandonment of prosecution) for members of the NDC who were standing trial for various offenses under the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.
While stating he supports accountability, Dr Zaato criticised what he termed the “sweetheart deals” granted to political allies.
He argued that the practice undermines the current anti-graft efforts.
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“I don’t have any problem with the prosecution of individuals suspected of engaging in corruption, but why did the Attorney General, upon assumption of office, file a nolle prosequi for members of the NDC who were also standing trial for various offences?” Dr Zaato asked.
He insisted that the Attorney General issued “up to six or five nolle prosequi,” all benefiting NDC members.
“The government did not allow a court of competent jurisdiction to determine their supposed guilt or innocence. No, they denied a court decision. And those were made by a politician and they benefited a politician. They were made by an NDC Attorney General and they benefited former and current NDC officials,” he said.
Dr Zaato estimated that the total value of money involved in the nolle prosequi cases would be “equal to or almost close to what the money ORAL was supposed to get,” effectively calling the funds “money that has been flushed down the toilet.”
Dr Zaato strongly advocated for non-partisan judicial accountability, stating that politicians should not decide the fate of those accused of crimes.
“My belief too is that let the courts, and not a politician, decide the fate of the people on the other side. I believe in those things,” he said.
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He offered a theory on “post-regime accountability,” stating that if a government fails to hold its own people to account, the next government has every right to pursue justice.
However, he maintained that the current government’s actions were hypocritical, effectively telling one group of political friends to “keep the money” while aggressively pursuing another.
The policy analyst outlined the massive opportunity cost of dropping the earlier cases, suggesting that if both the money involved in the nolle prosequi cases and the funds ORAL seeks to recover were successfully retrieved, the government could fund major national development projects.
“Imagine in a fair world, we collected the money of the seven or five nolle prosequi cases …We could easily fund the Big Push Agenda. We could easily establish the Women Development Bank. We could easily pay cocoa farmers the GH¢6,000 we promised them,” he said.
Watch video below
I don’t have any problem with the prosecution of individuals suspected of engaging in corruption, but why did the Attorney General, upon assumption of office, file a nolle prosequi for members of the NDC who were also standing trial for various offences?
– Dr Joshua Zaato,… pic.twitter.com/yLT5ugf4Aw
— #TV3GH (@tv3_ghana) October 25, 2025
VPO/EB
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