In furtherance of this ‘resetting’, the President set targets across various sectors of the economy and governance in general.

Some of the items that featured in the social contract included : having the full complement of cabinet ministers in place in 14 days, abolishing ‘nuisance taxes’ like the E-levy and earnings on placing bets, the holding of a national dialogue on the economy, a code of conduct for public service etc. 

By and large the consensus was that the President has achieved most of the promises captured in the social contract.

It is in the light of this evaluation that I hereby attempt the same within the context of our ‘Page 7 agenda’ of criminal justice and human rights issues.

The approach to evaluating the human rights and criminal justice issues of this administration will be two-fold: scrutinising matters that have surfaced since the assumption of office; topics we are advocating for reform.

The obvious place to begin the evaluation is with ORAL - the acronym for Operation Recover All Loot. Having campaigned and won power on the back of accusations that the erstwhile government of the NPP looted and bled the country dry, a five-man committee chaired by the Foreign Minister, Honourable Okudzeto Ablakwa, was set up to collect evidence for the possible prosecution of persons suspected to have committed criminal offences of corruption.

The committee has since presented its report to the President who has forwarded it to the Attorney General for further investigations. A record number of 2,417 cases are now under investigation.

If even a quarter of the money is successfully recovered then most Ghanaians would be happy.

Against the backdrop of the dark economic situation we find ourselves in, manifested in the country running to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout, every nickel of cash that would plug the financial deficit would be welcomed.

As they say in the local parlance, Twi that is, “ ketewa biara ensua”  (every little bit is appreciated).

The agitation for the prosecution of persons deemed to have indulged in corrupt practises has reached a crescendo and the prosecuting authorities have risen to the task.

The Attorney General has been busy updating Ghanaians on the efforts of his outfit to prosecute the ORAL agenda. 

The former Director General of the National Signals Bureau together with his wife and Advantage Solutions Limited have been charged with stealing in a $7,000,000 scandal.

The drama surrounding this case has all the ingredients of a Hollywood action-packed thriller. 

What with the intricate and sophisticated strategy allegedly orchestrated by the suspects and the bombshell memo scripted from the cells which claims that some of the monies allegedly stolen were given to parliamentarians to vote for an Act of Parliament.

It does not end there because the memo also alleges that an opposition political party was also given some of the funds towards the last election.

Above all, the famous, or should I say infamous, memo mind-blowingly alleges that some of the cash was also given to aides of the President-elect.

The trial is going to be as salacious as it will be controversial since the operations of the national security apparatchiks will feature prominently.

The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) hasn’t been left out of the act. In another sensational development which rivals the Adu Boahen case, the OSP labelled the former Finance Minister a fugitive.

Although the fugitive status has since been dropped, it brought to the fore the powers of the prosecutorial agencies in combating crime.

There was an outcry from members of the NPP but the bitter truth is that the OSP has such powers in their investigatorial role.

An aspect of this case that gained widespread attention was the dawn search of the Labone house of the former Finance Minister.

Many were outraged but, again, the authorities can conduct a search on premises without a warrant on national security grounds in rare cases if they have reasonable suspicion that a relevant offence is being/or about to be committed and that evidence is at risk of destruction.

The efforts of the prosecutorial agencies, spearheaded by the Attorney General, may be laudable but we beseech them to act within the boundaries of the law and adhere to fair trial principles.