A member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Communications Team, Hamza Suhuyini, has indicated that President John Dramani Mahama is unlikely to interfere in the legal consequences facing former MASLOC Chief Executive Officer Sedina Tamakloe Attionu, insisting that accountability must remain a cornerstone of governance.
Speaking on The Big Issue on Saturday, June 13, Suhuyini said although the Constitution empowers the President to exercise the prerogative of mercy, he does not expect Mahama to invoke that authority in Attionu’s case.
According to him, the President’s leadership style is rooted in fairness and respect for due process, making it unlikely that he would halt or undermine judicial proceedings.
Suhuyini stressed that Ghana’s democratic credentials depend on the willingness of state institutions to hold public officials accountable, regardless of their political affiliations.
He argued that matters involving the rule of law should not be viewed through partisan lenses, but rather as issues of national importance that require a consistent approach.
“As for a presidential pardon, I don’t see it happening, and many sound-minded Ghanaians would not want it to happen. It is within the legal remit of the land. But knowing President Mahama, he will allow the legal process to take its full and due course,” he stated.
The comments come in the wake of Attionu’s return to Ghana after being extradited from the United States to serve a 10-year prison sentence handed down by the Accra High Court.
Attionu was convicted in absentia in 2024 on charges including stealing and causing financial loss to the state after failing to return to Ghana following a medical trip to the United States.
The court found that actions undertaken during her tenure at the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) between 2013 and 2016 resulted in a financial loss of nearly GH¢90 million to the state.
Her extradition and incarceration have reignited public debate over accountability in public office, with Suhuyini maintaining that the integrity of Ghana’s justice system must be upheld irrespective of political considerations.
