Investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni says the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) did not begin investigations into the Strategic Mobilisation Limited (SML) corruption case until former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta left Ghana.
According to him, the controversy surrounding the Strategic Mobilisation Limited (SML) corruption case and the circumstances under which Ken Ofori-Atta left the country could have been avoided if the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) had acted earlier.
Speaking on TV3 and monitored by NewsDesksGH on November 29, Manasseh said that the OSP only started investigations in 2025 and not 2023 like earlier claimed.
Manasseh explained that the office failed to act on a December 2023 petition filed by himself and other investigative journalists.
“One point we’re forgetting is all of this controversy would not have arisen had the Office of the Special Prosecutor proceeded to begin the investigation in 2023 December when Evans Aziamor-Mensah, Adwoa Adobea-Owusu and I petitioned that office,” he said.
“I’m saying to all Ghanaians and there is evidence to this effect that the Office of the Special Prosecutor did not start the SML investigation in 2023. The whole of 2024, the OSP did not start the SML investigation.”
“It only started the SML investigation in 2025. January 29, 2025. By which time Ernest Akore had left. By which time Ken Ofori-Atta had left the country.”
He questioned the basis on which the state could have prevented anyone from leaving when no probe was underway.
“On what basis would anybody have stopped Ken Ofori-Atta or Ernest Akore when the OSP had not started the investigation,” he stressed.
Manasseh referenced the OSP’s “Diary of Action Taken”, explaining that the first recorded entry for the SML probe is dated 29th January 2025 at 12:40 p.m. He added that the l next entry was logged on 30th January 2025, which read “Proceed with the preliminary investigation.”
Manasseh Azure contrasted this with public accounts by the Special Prosecutor.
He noted that in an interview with KSM, the Special Prosecutor said: “We started investigations in December 2023. By the ending of January 2024 we knew what we were sitting on. That’s why in January 2025, we started inviting our primary suspects in.”
Manasseh revealed that the OSP first contacted him on 29th January 2025, with their first meeting taking place on 31st January 2025.
“On the 5th of February they sent an email and that email said that they needed some information for the preparatory processes towards the investigation,” he added.
He argued that earlier public claims by the OSP that investigations had already been underway were inaccurate.
“The reports that we read from the OSP telling us previously that they were investigating when they hadn’t started, those reports are not true,” he said.
“The Office of the Special Prosecutor did not start this investigation until Ken Ofori-Atta left.”
