The Director of Legal Affairs of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Godwin Tameklo, has expressed concern over media reports suggesting that Ghana’s former Minister for Finance, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, is being held in a detention facility in the United States.

Speaking on the matter, Mr Tameklo said he was disturbed by images and reports surrounding the alleged detention of the former Minister, whom former Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu, once described as the “Co-President of Ghana” due to his influence within the Akufo-Addo administration.

Mr Tameklo acknowledged Mr Ofori-Atta’s significant role in Ghana’s recent political and economic history, describing him as a man of “many talents and parts.”

He recalled that his interest in Mr Ofori-Atta deepened after reading Chasing the Elephant into the Bush: The Politics of Complacency, a book by former NPP presidential aspirant, Dr Arthur Kennedy, which chronicles internal party dynamics following the New Patriotic Party’s defeat in the 2008 elections.

According to Mr Tameklo, Dr Kennedy’s account portrays Mr Ofori-Atta as a central figure in financing and sustaining Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s presidential ambitions, as well as playing a decisive role in the selection of Dr Mahamudu Bawumia as running mate in 2008, despite internal opposition within the party.

He said Mr Ofori-Atta’s insistence on Dr Bawumia’s candidacy, including proposals for constitutional waivers where necessary, underscored his political clout.

“That is how powerful Mr Ken Ofori-Atta was,” Mr Tameklo stated, arguing that any comprehensive account of President Akufo-Addo’s rise to power would place Mr Ofori-Atta among the most influential architects of the administration.

While stressing that he is not an admirer of Mr Ofori-Atta’s politics, Mr Tameklo said he nonetheless respects the systems and gatekeeping mechanisms the former Finance Minister helped establish during his tenure.

He also noted that Mr Ofori-Atta’s stewardship of the economy — the longest by any Finance Minister since 1992 — left a lasting imprint, particularly through policies such as the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP), whose effects on citizens’ savings and livelihoods, he said, would endure for years.

However, Mr Tameklo emphasised that the central issue surrounding Mr Ofori-Atta’s legacy is accountability.

He noted that successive Finance Ministers since 1992 have, in one form or another, accounted for their stewardship, citing the prosecution of former Finance Minister Kwame Peprah and his Deputy Victor Selormey during Mr Akufo-Addo’s tenure as Attorney-General, as well as investigations into finance officials under previous administrations.

He questioned why Mr Ofori-Atta has not voluntarily availed himself to ongoing accountability processes, particularly investigations being conducted by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP).

Mr Tameklo stressed that the investigation into Mr Ofori-Atta is being handled independently by the OSP, an institution established under President Akufo-Addo, and currently led by a Special Prosecutor appointed during the previous administration.

As such, he argued, claims of political persecution or interference by President John Dramani Mahama’s government are unfounded.

“President Mahama and his administration have stayed away from the investigation and prosecution,” he said, adding that the President himself had previously been investigated by the OSP following a petition and was cleared