Author: Seth J. Bokpe

Lighthouse chapel lawyer can testify to my credibility—Manasseh tells court

The former Editor-in-Chief of The Fourth Estate, Manasseh Azure Awuni, last Friday told the Accra High Court that the lawyer for Lighthouse Chapel International, Kweku Paintsil, was one individual who could vouch for his credibility.

Under cross-examination by Lighthouse lawyers in a defamation suit by the church, Mr Awuni explained that he and Mr. Paintsil became friends following an investigation involving one of the lawyer’s clients because of the thoroughness of his (Awuni’s) work.

Mr Awuni’s comment came on the heels of the lawyer’s claim that the investigative journalist failed to contact the church on allegations that its hierarchy was forcing pastors to divorce their wives.

He implied that The Fourth Estate could not use a single instance to generalize that it had become the church’s culture to compel some of its pastors to divorce their wives.

Mr. Awuni disagreed. Citing another instance when a former Lighthouse pastor said he had been told to divorce his wife for not supporting his ministry, Mr. Awuni said the former pastors, not the reporters of The Fourth Estate, had called the practice a “culture.” He said Mr. Paintsil was fully aware of the rigour of his work, adding that Lighthouse Chapel had been unwilling to cooperate or respond to interview requests during the investigations.

“It is normal for an investigative journalist to go to a source from whom he is seeking information several times before the publication is ready, that is, if the source is prepared to respond. If there is anybody in this courtroom who can testify to this, it is the counsel for the plaintiff,” he said.

“In 2013, his client was involved in an investigation I was conducting. I contacted his client not less than five times before the story was done. At a point, he referred me to his lawyer, counsel for the plaintiff [Lighthouse lawyer], to respond to some of my follow-up requests or questions. I remember visiting his office about twice or thrice in Osu.

“This included taking documents to photocopy and return them. That is how counsel for plaintiff became my friend till today, because he was satisfied with the thoroughness of my work,” he said.

However, Mr Paintsil protested Manasseh’s reference to his client, saying “he cannot prove by any evidence before this court and the privacy of the matter and so on.”

“If he decides to put that issue in public, I have a duty to stop it. Privileged information cannot be put in public,” he said.

But a smiling presiding judge, Rev. Fr. Joseph Adu Owusu Agyeman, intervened.

“He is not bound by legal ethics. You’re bound by legal ethics,” the judge pointed out.

“Are you not his friend?” the judge asked.

“My lord, I’m not going to deny that he is my good friend, but when what he is saying raises issues that cannot be proven, and you can’t leave it without cross-examining,” he said.

At this point, the lawyer for the Media Foundation for West and Mr Awuni, Samson Lardy Anyenini, weighed in, saying Mr Awuni’s response was justified because of the Lighthouse lawyer’s line of questioning, which sought to create doubt about Mr Awuni’s work.

At the judge’s urging, Mr Paintsil dropped the matter.

Mr Awuni, however, emphasized that the engagement with the lawyer’s client in 2013 was because “the subject of the investigation was prepared to engage. In the case of the plaintiff, there was no avenue for engagement, so any follow-up request could not be made, which is sometimes the case even on the eve of publication.”

Earlier, the investigative journalist told the Court that The Fourth Estate went as far as reaching out to Archbishop Charles Agyinasare to connect journalists of the news portal to Lighthouse Chapel for an interview to address allegations of economic exploitation, including the non-payment of their Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) contribution and emotional abuse levelled against the church.

But the church turned down the request for an interview and also refused to respond to a letter from The Fourth Estate about the allegations.

Meanwhile, a bishop of the Lighthouse Chapel International, Bishop Marcel Aboagye, admitted to the court on January 10, 2023, that the church “refused” to respond to a letter The Fourth Estate wrote for a response before publishing the “Darkness in the Lighthouse” series

“We suspected there was collusion between the former pastors, Kofi Bentil, and the defendants [The Fourth Estate]. We thought a response to the letter would mean giving away the potential defense to an imminent suit,” he told the court.

Below are excerpts from the cross-examination:

Kwaku Paintsil: At page three of your first publication, which is also page seven of our witness statement, you stated, “There’s a culture of abuse, exploitation, and pressure on pastors to divorce their wives all in the name of advancing the work of God.’

Manasseh Azure Awuni: I don’t recall the exact words. If I may have it to refresh my memory. [He’s given the document]. Contrary to what the counsel said, it reads: “The Fourth Estate delves into the lives of these six ministers of God, and what they say is a culture of abuse, exploitation, and pressure on some pastors to divorce their wives, all in the name of advancing the work of God.” Counsel took out what “they say” and inserted “there is” to sound as though it is a declaration by the publishers.

Q: Are you suggesting to this court that, as a publisher, you don’t owe any obligation to the public to verify the truth or otherwise of allegations you publish?

A.: My lord, we owe it to the public to verify, as much as possible, the allegation made by our sources. That is why we took various steps to get the side of the plaintiffs, even when our information was that they would not respond. I went with my colleague in court today, Seth Bokpe, in order to get the Plaintiff’s church to respond. Even when they told the revered man of God [Archbishop Agyinasare] that they would not respond, we wrote to the church. Again, they refused to respond. We asked some of the pastors if they have evidence to support what they said. On the claim of divorce, for instance, Bishop Oko Mensah said the meeting was not recorded, the meeting at which he was asked to divorce his wife was not recorded. But he remembered sending a WhatsApp message to his wife. Immediately after the meeting, he called and hinted her the meeting was about her. But he did not have the phone with him. He promised to look for that phone and produce the message. He did, and we attached it to the story and published it. We also had documents and correspondence from plaintiff’s church.

Q: Is it the one instance of Bishop Oko Mensah’ case which you characterized as a culture?

A. No, my Lord, we stated the cases of all six pastors and what they endured within the period. We, for instance, stated the case of Seth Duncan and what he went through. Contrary to the claim by counsel for the plaintiff that Seth Duncan’s marriage is intact, he filed for divorce as far back as 2022, three to four years after their separation. On those filings, Seth Duncan’s wife actually said, “He was suicide prone, the very issues he narrated in The Fourth Estate article.” My Lord, we also had to delete the account of one pastor, who said he was a former Lighthouse pastor. But because of his wife, who was terminally ill with cancer, he didn’t want the family to be drawn into the issue. This and others, as we narrated in the story, was what the pastors said constituted a culture of abuse, exploitation, and pressure on pastors to divorce their wives.

The case has been adjourned to October 31, 2025.

Background

Six former ministers of Lighthouse Church International sued the church in April 2021 for non-payment of their pension contributions, economic exploitation, and emotional abuse.

The church counter-sued the pastors and accused them of causing The Fourth Estate to publish “sensational” allegations, even before and after they came to court to sue the church.

The church also sued The Fourth Estate for defamation, claiming, among things, that the publications sought to suggest that the church was “not only intolerant but extremely callous, insensitive, inconsiderate, and cold-hearted in its treatment of and abandonment of its volunteers and employees with exacting demands calculated to house them out of their posts.”

The Lighthouse stories also contained the former pastors’ accounts of the sacrifices they made in establishing churches they were allegedly forced to abandon because of a church policy.

The LCI and The Fourth Estate have been in court since December 2021.

July 30, 2025

Asset Declaration: 18 High Court, Court of Appeal judges Flout Law

Eighteen High Court and Court of Appeal judges appointed in 2023 and 2024 have yet to declare their assets and liabilities, almost two years after their appointments.

The non-compliance adds up to 22 judges from the country’s superior courts, including four Supreme Court judges, who have ignored the law since their appointments. They are part of more than 70 judges then President Nana Akufo-Addo appointed in 2023 and 2024.

Through a Right to Information request, The Fourth Estate found that these judges did not comply with the law as of April 17, 2025.

Notable names on the Court of Appeal list include Justice Dr Poku Adusei, a former director in charge of legal affairs at the National Communications Authority; Justice Charles William Leopold Bartels Zwennes, a former private legal practitioner; and Justice Lydia Osei Marfo, the judge who jailed infamous Chinese illegal miner Aisha Huang.

Others are justices Charles Gyamfi Danquah, Gifty Dekyem, Richard Mac Kogyapwah, Francis Koffie, and David Kwabena Adade Boafo. President Akufo-Addo swore them into office in July 2023.

Ten others in the High Court also breached the law.

The full list of the defaulting judges is below.

Name	Court	Date of Appointment
Justice Poku Adusei	Court of Appeal	July 23, 2024
Justice Charles William Leopold Bartels Zwennes	Court of Appeal	July 23, 2024
Justice Lydia Osei Marfo	Court of Appeal	July 23, 2024
Justice Charles Gyamfi Danquah	Court of Appeal	July 23, 2024
Justice Gifty Dekyem	Court of Appeal	July 23, 2024
Justice Richard Mac Kogyapwah	Court of Appeal	July 23, 2024
Justice Francis Koffie	Court of Appeal	July 23, 2024
David Kwabena Adade Boafo	Court of Appeal	July 23, 2024
Alexander Oworae	High Court	February 7, 2023
Kwesi Adjenim-Boateng	High Court	Feburary 7, 2023
Abigail Animah Asare	High Court	September 30, 2024
Veronique Praba Tetteh	Court Court	September 30, 2024
Samuel Djanie Kotey	High Court	September 30, 2024
Abbas Abubakari Adams	High Court	September 30, 2024
Agnes Opoku-Barnieh	High Court	September 30, 2024
Justice Afia Owusuaa Appiah	High Court	September 30, 2024
Justice Kizita Naa Koowa Quarshie	High Court	September 30, 2024
Justice Oliver Abada	High Court	September 30, 2024

According to Article 286 of the Constitution and Act 550, judges are required to declare their assets and liabilities upon taking office within six months. They are also obliged to repeat the declaration every four years after assuming office and at the end of their tenure.

However, these judges, some of whom have been in office for nearly two years, have flouted the asset declaration law, meant to fight graft and ensure that public officeholders do not use their positions to illicitly enrich themselves.

No response from judges

On May 28, 2025, The Fourth Estate wrote to the Judicial Secretary, requesting to know the asset declaration statuses of the 18 judges

None of them responded to the letter.

It is regrettable – Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition

Reacting to The Fourth Estate’s findings, Beauty Emefa Narteh, Executive Secretary of the Ghana Anti–Corruption Coalition (GACC), said the judges’ non-compliance is regrettable.

“The judiciary plays a crucial role in upholding the law and must adhere to the highest standards of compliance, particularly with asset declaration,” she said.

“Enforcing a law while breaching it erodes public trust and undermines judicial integrity. To restore and maintain citizens’ trust, the judiciary should implement robust internal measures, including verification of compliance with asset declaration, and apply sanctions for non-compliance.”

Article 286 (1) of the 1992 Constitution states that “a person who holds a public office mentioned in clause (5) of this Article shall submit to the Auditor-General a written declaration of all property or assets owned by, or liabilities owed by, him whether directly or indirectly (a) within three months after the coming into force of this Constitution or before taking office, as the case may be, (b) at the end of every four years; and (b) at the end of his term of office.”

The Constitution requires the declaration to be made before the public officer takes office. However, Section 1(4)(c) of the Public Office Holders (Declaration of Assets and Disqualification) Act directs the public office holder to meet this requirement “not later than six months after taking office, at the end of every four years, and not later than six months at the end of his or her term.”

Critics of the two laws, including Mrs Narteh, say reforms are needed to make the laws conform to international best practice. They argue that verification and publication, which are absent in the current laws, should be added to the legislation.

Currently, Liberia, South Africa, Tanzania, Cape Verde, and São Tomé and Príncipe are the only African countries that allow the publication of assets declared.

Who must do the declaration?

The laws require that the President, Vice-President, the Speaker of Parliament, Deputy Speakers of Parliament, members of Parliament, ministers and deputy ministers of state, ambassadors, the Chief Justice and Judges of superior courts submit to the Auditor-General, written declarations of all property or assets owned or liabilities owed by them, whether directly or indirectly. Others required to make similar declarations are managers of public institutions in which the state has interest.

July 23, 2025

Asset declaration: The Supreme Court lords who disregarded the law

Four judges of Ghana’s Supreme Court, who were appointed in 2023 and 2024, have failed to declare their assets and liabilities in accordance with the law.

These legal brains, who rose to the peak of legal practice and swore to defend the Constitution, did not perform a key legal requirement of their office.

The Asset Declaration Law, Act 550, stipulates that public officeholders, including judges, declare their assets within six months after they are appointed.

The Fourth Estate obtained the full list of public office holders who had declared their assets by April 17, 2025, from the Audit Service through a Right to Information (RTI) request.

Justice George Kingsley Koomson

The data revealed that Supreme Court judge, Justice George Kingsley Koomson, has been in office for 24 months without declaring his assets and liabilities, as required under Article 286 of the Constitution and the Assets Declaration Law, Act 550. He should have complied with the law by October 2024.

Justice Koomson joined the bar as an assistant state attorney in November 1990 and became a Circuit Court judge in 2000. He rose to the High Court in 2008 and was appointed a Court of Appeal Judge in 2020. Three years later, he was elevated to the Supreme Court in April 2023.

Justice Henry Anthony Kwofie

Justice Henry Anthony Kwofie, who swore fidelity to the law on December 22, 2023, as a Supreme Court judge, also did not perform his constitutional responsibility by June 2024.

Justice Kwofie became a Circuit Court judge in 1998. Six years later, he rose to the High Court, where he spent nine years before he was appointed to the Court of Appeal in 2015 and then to the Supreme Court in 2024.

Yaw Asare Darko & Richard Adjei Frimpong

Two other Supreme Court justices – Yaw Asare Darko and Richard Adjei Frimpong – who both took office in January 2024, have also not fulfilled their asset declaration obligations. By June 2024, they should have both deposited their declarations with the Audit Service.

For Justice Darko, he joined the bench as a Court of Appeal judge in 2019 after decades in private practice. He was sworn into office by President Akufo-Addo on January 3, 2024 as a Supreme Court judge.

On the other hand, Justice Adjei Frimpong started his career as a district magistrate in 2003, became a circuit court judge in 2004 and a High Court judge in 2010. He was appointed to the Court of Appeal in 2020 before his promotion to the Supreme Court in November 2024.

This breach of constitutional duty raises concerns about transparency and accountability within the judiciary, especially given the critical role judges play in upholding the rule of law.

On May 28, 2025, The Fourth Estate wrote to the four Supreme Court judges, requesting to know their asset declaration status.

Only Justice George Kingsley Koomson responded.

A letter dated June 2, 2025, signed on his behalf, provided evidence of a declaration made on the same day.

Reacting to The Fourth Estate’s findings, Beauty Emefa Narteh, Executive Secretary of the Ghana Anti–Corruption Coalition (GACC), said the failure of the judges to declare their assets and obligations is regrettable.

“The judiciary plays a crucial role in upholding the law and must adhere to the highest standards of compliance, particularly with asset declaration,” she said. “Enforcing a law while breaching it erodes public trust and undermines judicial integrity. To restore and maintain citizens’ trust, the judiciary should implement robust internal measures, including verification of compliance with asset declaration, and apply sanctions for non-compliance.”

Article 286 (1) of the 1992 Constitution states that “a person who holds a public office mentioned in clause (5) of this Article shall submit to the Auditor-General, a written declaration of all property or assets owned by, or liabilities owed by, him whether directly or indirectly (a) within three months after the coming into force of this Constitution or before taking office, as the case may be, (b) at the end of every four years; and (b) at the end of his term of office.”

The Constitution requires the declaration to be made before the public officer takes office. However, Section 1(4)(c) of the Public Office Holders (Declaration of Assets and Disqualification) Act directs the public office holder to meet this requirement “not later than six months after taking office, at the end of every four years and not later than six months at the end of his or her term.”

Critics of the two laws, including Mrs Narteh, say reforms are needed to make the law conform to international best practice, including verification and publication.

Currently, Liberia, South Africa, Tanzania, Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe are the only African countries that allow the publication of assets declared.

Supreme Court judges’ compliance

This is not the first time the justices of the Supreme Court have not lived up to the terms of the asset declaration laws.

When he appeared before the Public Appointments Committee of Parliament in 2019 to be vetted for the position of Chief Justice, Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboah admitted that he had not declared his assets and liabilities.

Justice Anin Yeboah had been a judge at the Court of Appeal from 2003 to 2008 before he was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2008. He also served as a High Court judge from 2002-2003.

In 2019, however, when the then Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mohammed Mubarack, asked when he declared his assets, he said his first declaration had been at the instance of Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Woode when he was appointed to the Supreme Court in June 2008.

“Last week, I filed it at the Auditor-General’s office,” he responded.

Before admitting that he had not declared his assets on the two occasions he was promoted, he said judges were overwhelmed with work, a reason they failed to meet the requirement.

The Fourth Estate’s checks indicate that when he retired as a Chief Justice in May 2023, Justice Anin-Yeboah did not conform to the anti-graft law by December 2023. He only complied with the law in December 2024—18 months after he retired.

Justice Nene Ofoe Amegatcher, who retired in February 2023, after five years on the bench, only submitted his asset declaration forms in January 2024 — five months late.

His peer on the Supreme Court, Prof Nii Ashie Kotey, who retired in February 2023, is yet to comply — more than two years after exiting office.

Comparatively, Justice Jones Dotse, who also retired in June 2023, complied with the law within three months after his retirement. Justice Clemence Honyenuga, who left office in September 2022, filed his declaration within six months.

YOU MAY ALSO WANT READ

8 Judges rush to declare assets after The Fourth Estate letter

July 17, 2025

NSS Scandal: A-G to prosecute 12 over GH¢548m ghost names fraud after The Fourth Estate exposé

The Attorney-General is charging former officials of the National Service Authority for their involvement in the scandalous creation of thousands of ghost names to siphon more than GH¢548 million cedis from the public purse.

Two former NSS bosses — Mustapha Ussif (2017–2021) and Osei Assibey Antwi (2021–2025) — are among those set to face prosecution over a multi-million-cedi financial rip-off uncovered by The Fourth Estate last year.

They face charges including:

Stealing, contrary to section 124(1) of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960, Act 29.
Conspiracy to steal, contrary to sections 23(1) and 124(1) of the Criminal and Other Offences Act, 1960, Act 30.
Willfully causing financial loss to the state, contrary to section 179(C) of the Criminal and Other Offences Act 1960, Act 30
Using public office for private profit, contrary to section 179(C) of the Criminal and Other Offences Act 1960, Act 30.
Obtaining public property by false statements, contrary to section 5 of the Public Property Protection Decree 1977, SMC 140.
Money laundering, contrary to section 1, subsection 2C of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2020 Act 1044 and conspiracy to commit money laundering, contrary to section 3 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2020 Act 1020.

The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Dr Dominic Ayine, announced the prosecution of the former officials of the NSA at a press conference in Accra. It comes on the back of months of investigations by The Fourth Estate, which revealed how the NSA officials created ghost names as a conduit to drain the public purse at a time thousands of service personnel were owed allowances.

Also under fire is former Deputy Director Gifty Oware-Mensah, accused of using national service personnel’s allowances as collateral to secure a GHC 30 million ADB loan for her private business.

The rest are:

Kwaku Ohene Gyan, former Deputy Executive Director for Operations
Abraham Bismarck Gaise, former Internal Auditor
Eric Kwaku Adjei, an Account Officer
Iddrisu Ibn Abubakar, former Head of Accounts
Stephen Kwabena Gyamfi, former Regional Director for Koforidua
Prince Awuku, a District Director
Jacob Yawson, Management Information Systems Administrator in the Northern Region
Two others have not been named

The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Dr. Dominic Ayine, also announced that vendors who conspired with officials of the NSA for a fictitious hire purchase scheme that defrauded the state would be equally prosecuted.

“This criminal enterprise was run by top-level executives of the National Service Authority and their accomplices in the private sector known as vendors or service providers. This criminal enterprise resulted in the siphoning of huge sums of public funds into private pockets,” he said.

The Attorney General’s investigations confirmed The Fourth Estate’s findings, which showed that there were wide disparities between the number of personnel announced to the public as service personnel and what officials of the authority reported to Parliament.

“Consequently, or consistently, these figures were inflated by huge numbers. During the fiscal year, the directors would write to the Minister of Finance requesting permission to utilise excess funds allocated in the budget of the National Service Authority,” Dr Ayine explains.

“Once authorised, the directors would transfer the funds into NSA’s project account at the Agricultural Development Bank, and under the pretext of executing projects, would divert the funds into private pockets.”

He continued, “Another criminal scheme hatched and exploited by the directors and staff is the deployment of ghost names onto the NSA system. Once deployed, the directors would then request that both ghost names and genuine names be transmitted by the accounts to the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GHIPPs for payment.”

The Attorney General disclosed that a six-year comparative audit, spanning 2018 to 2024, uncovered massive payroll fraud. While 587,543 verified personnel were supposed to be submitted for payment, records from GHIPSS revealed that 650,165 people were actually paid. This exposes a staggering 63,672 ghost names smuggled into the system.

Over GHC 548,000 was siphoned through ghost names

Gifty Oware-Mensah’s scheme

Mrs Oware-Mensah was alleged to have pulled off her scheme by fraudulently registering a company—Blocks of Life Consult—using the personal details of unsuspecting individuals without their consent. Posing as a legitimate business, she presented the company to the ADB Bank through a middleman, Maxwell Akwesi Oforiminta. She enlisted her husband, lawyer Peter Mensah, as a fronting director. She claimed the company specialised in supplying home appliances to National Service personnel and proposed that ADB fund the venture on a hire-purchase basis, with the NSA handling deductions and repayments.

Although the company got the funds, it was not listed as a vendor for the Authority’s marketplace as a registered vendor.

The Attorney-General claimed that Mrs Oware-Mensah got a GH¢ 30.6 million loan from the ADB bank using 9,934 ghost names to siphon the funds.

On the fraud involving vendors, Dr Ayine says his office’s investigations showed that some of the ghost names were added to the list submitted by vendors, representing the number of service personnel to whom they had allegedly supplied items or provided loan facilities.

“When these vendors eventually received their payments, the directors and staff would then contact the vendors whose accounts had received payments, meet with them, and collect the additional money that had been added to the vendors’ payments,” he says.

Monies collected from this scheme were allegedly handed over to the former Director-General of NSA, Osei-Assibey Antwi, in cash and sometimes deposited into his bank account. In the 2023 service year, a total of GHC 8.2 million was deposited into Mr Antwi’s account.

A breakdown shows the vendor companies listed below and their owners received the following:

Company	Owner	Amount
Alfaira Ventures	Haruna Maulaya	GHC 21.3 million
Marine Ventures	Rose Hamilton	GHC 50.7 million
Option Buy Ventures	Isaac Asamani	GHC 11.4 million
A savings and loans company		GHC 167.6 million
Silsona Ventures	Sylvia Opare	GHC 10.7 million
Nyansapor Ventures	Jacob Yawson	GHC 19.1 million
Brainwave Ventures	Philomena Arthur & Stephen Kwabena Gyamfi	GHC 17.6 million
Alfarita Ventures	Solomon Dwanena	GHC 8.2 million
GH Ohetek Ventures	Charles Aheming	GHC 14.2 million
Kweku Opare Agofa & Prince Agofa Awuku	Fralisa Ventures	GHC 9 million

The Attorney-General said none of the vendors were able to produce evidence to support the items they supplied to the NSA, matching the amount of money they received.

He revealed that while some marketplace vendors and NSA staff offered to serve as prosecution witnesses, the prosecution team rejected their offers.

“Some of them offered to be prosecution witnesses, and we rejected their offers. They came, met with my deputy, we evaluated the evidence and thought that it would be inimical to the entire prosecutorial enterprise if we accepted; I mean their offers to serve as prosecution witnesses,” he said.

Background

The Fourth Estate investigation at the NSS revealed widespread corruption and payroll fraud, where tens of thousands of fictitious names were used to siphon millions of Ghana cedis from the State.

The findings showed that individuals not enrolled in national service, including the elderly, foreigners, and deceased persons, were fraudulently listed on payrolls. In one striking case, the name of a Kenyan man appeared on the payroll as an active service person.

On December 2, 2024, hours before the first part of the series of investigative reports on the scandal, a court bailiff served the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), the parent organisation of The Fourth Estate, with an injunction order from the High Court.

This legal move followed The Fourth Estate’s public announcement that it was set to release a series of investigative stories on the National Service Scheme (NSS). Unbeknownst to The Fourth Estate, the NSS had filed an injunction application earlier that same day and obtained a court order in a manner that excluded the media organisation from the proceedings, effectively attempting to block the publication at the last minute.

The MFWA petitioned the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) and the Operation Recover All loot (ORAL) team with its findings of the scandal.

Following the petition, a nationwide audit by the State revealed that over 81,000 ghost names were on the NSS payroll, resulting in an estimated GH¢112 million in losses in just one service year.

June 13, 2025

‘Dumsor’ hits courts, proceedings abruptly halted

Litigants and accused persons who turned up at the various courts along the High Street in Accra were left frustrated and angry on Wednesday, June 11, after a blackout—popularly known as ‘dumsor’—brought court proceedings to a sudden halt.

Lawyers, dressed in black flowing robes and grey wigs, were seen fanning themselves to manage the sweltering heat inside the courtrooms. The unexpected outage occurred around noon, forcing judges to adjourn their scheduled cases.

Justice Enyonam Adinyira, the High Court judge set to preside over the cross-examination of witnesses in the case brought by six former pastors against the Lighthouse Chapel International for alleged economic exploitation and emotional abuse, was compelled to adjourn proceedings.

“The court cannot sit because of the power outage, and even though I am prepared to sit, it is impossible, and therefore, I have to adjourn the matter,” she stated.

The incident affected the four buildings accommodating about 14 courts, including the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal.

The Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal BUILDING were equally plunged into darkness

Kofi Bentil, lawyer for the six pastors, expressed disappointment over the disruption, saying it was frustrating.

“We have a two-hour cross-examination, and everybody is here. Unfortunately, we came to meet darkness in the court, and we have been waiting for more than an hour now, and the power is not back,” he said.

“The indication was that they don’t know when the power is going to come back. The judge is there, the court clerks are there, both lawyers are there, and the witnesses are there, but we cannot have the court because the court needs power to operate.”

Lawyer Bentil described the situation as an affront to justice delivery in the country.

“Honestly, it is bad. Nobody is in custody or anything, but imagine a person was in custody or anything, he will go back for one month because the power went off.”

He continued, “If for nothing at all, there will be an operation cost. All the lawyers brought here will have to be paid. The judge was there; she was prepared to sit throughout the period, but she couldn’t have it. The court clerks there will have to be paid; there is a real cost to these things. From now till the next adjourned date, you wouldn’t know what will happen.”

According to him, timely and effective justice delivery helps resolve societal issues, but any delay can worsen matters.

He urged national leadership to treat such setbacks seriously.

“We should, as a country, make sure we can avoid these things as much as possible. If power goes off in a court, there must be some sort of backup system. Now, all these courts are not working. If you can accumulate, it is serious.”

Mr Bentil proposed a long-term solution through a reliable power backup system.

“As a country, it is not beyond us to organize for our courts to have backup power. And if we cannot do a simple thing like this as a country, what can we do? Because leaders are to solve problems, and sometimes basic fundamental problems kill us,” he said.

“ You have a situation where lawyers are wearing coats, gowns, wigs, air conditioners back and forth and you can’t have a backup power? It doesn’t speak well of us as a country.”

Pastor Edward Laryea, one of the litigants in the Lighthouse Chapel case, also shared his disappointment.

“Those in charge must sit up because it is a disappointment to the citizen to be scheduled at the High Court, and then you will come, and the reason why a case cannot be heard is because of a light off,” he said.

He described the disruption as a trampling of his right to seek justice.

“Because this is an avoidable thing, and if the people in charge want the country to run, every court should have a backup. It looks like those in charge don’t take the judicial work serious. They don’t think it is important, and they are just joking with us,” he reiterated.

A court clerk, who asked not to be named, said it was not the first time the courts had been brought to their knees because of blackouts.

“It has been happening for some time now. The courts also handle life and death matters. We also deserve backup power for our work,” he said.

The courts in this building were all closed because of the blackout

Ghana has been grappling with an ongoing energy crisis in recent times, prompting the government to introduce a new energy sector levy. Under this new law, car owners are required to pay GH₵1 on every litre of fuel purchased. The revenue is intended to fund the fuel needed to power electricity plants and help offset the billions owed to power producers.

The government is counting on the new levy to raise additional revenue, GH¢5 billion annually on average, to support the payment of energy sector arrears, reduce legacy debt, and ensure a stable power supply across the country.

all the Circuit Courts in this building were closed because of ‘dumsor’

Data from the Ministry of Finance suggests the country owes $3.7 billion in energy sector debts. Part of this debt comes from the inefficiencies of the Electricity Company of Ghana, which has struggled to curb power theft and recover debts owed to it. This new measure echoes the Energy Sector Levy Act (ESLA) passed in 2015, which was also aimed at addressing the country’s growing energy debt. However, critics argue that ESLA funds were never used for their intended purpose, with the current Mahama administration alleging that the previous Akufo-Addo government collateralized the funds instead.

Some members of the Ghanaian public oppose the new levy, especially since it lacks a sunset clause that would indicate when consumers can expect to stop paying it.

June 12, 2025
Asset declaration: Full list of appointees who complied with Mahama’s May 7 deadline and those who didn’t after The Fourth Estate’s investigations

President John Dramani Mahama, on February 18, 2025, ordered his appointees to declare their assets by March 31, 2025, or face dismissal.

However, by April 17, 2025, at least 55 of them had failed to comply with the President’s directive, which is also enshrined in Article 286 and Act 550.

Following The Fourth Estate’s publication of April 29, 2025, which revealed the list of defaulters, the President, on May 5, 2025, summoned his appointees to the Jubilee House and launched a Code of Conduct for them.

He also gave the defaulters until May 7, 2025, to comply with the law, which aims to ensure that public officeholders do not use their position to enrich themselves illicitly.

The Fourth Estate followed up, using the Right to Information law to obtain data from the Audit Service and provides the compliance list below.

The Fourth Estate can confirm that this is the first time since 2013 that nearly all of the president’s appointees have complied with the law within six months.

In earlier investigations published in 2022, The Fourth Estate found that 27 of President Nana Akufo-Addo’s appointees who served in his first and second terms did not comply with the law. Similarly, 11 from President Mahama’s administration from 2013 to 2017 also failed to meet their constitutional obligation.

List of all appointees who have declared their Assets Download

YOU MAY ALSO WANT TO READ:

ASSET DECLARATION: 55 Appointees & Staffers Defy Mahama’s Order.… Will the President go by his words, or it was just empty threat?

Asset declaration Mahama appointees lose three-months’ salary for failing to declare assets and liabilities after The Fourth Estate’s exposé

June 3, 2025
Asset Declarations: Full list of Mahama appointees who have complied — and those who haven’t — as of April 17

President John Dramani Mahama has given his appointees until close of business today to declare their assets and liabilities in conformity with Article 286 or consider themselves automatically fired.

This followed The Fourth Estate’s revelation that more than 50 of the President’s appointees, including ministers, presidential staffers, and heads of state institutions, have failed to do their declaration by the March 31, 2025, deadline set by the President.

In response, the President fined them three months’ salary and also ordered them to fulfill their constitutional obligation by the close of today.

The Fourth Estate is publishing the full list of those who honoured it and those who have not as of April 17, 2025.

Full list of appointees who declared their assets and those who defaulted Download

May 7, 2025
Asset declaration Mahama appointees lose three-months’ salary for failing to declare assets and liabilities after The Fourth Estate’s exposé

President John Dramani Mahama’s appointees who defied his directives to declare their assets and liabilities before March 31, 2025, will lose three months’ salary as punishment.

The President has also given these defaulting ministers a new lifeline: May 7, 2025, to comply or be fired.

This follows an investigation by The Fourth Estate titled “ASSET DECLARATION: 55 Appointees & Staffers Defy Mahama’s Order.… Will the President go by his words, or it was just an empty threat?”

The investigative report revealed widespread non-compliance among ministers, presidential staffers, and heads of state institutions.

It chronicled how fifty-five appointees and staffers in the Mahama administration had failed to declare their assets despite a March 31, 2025, deadline issued by the President.

The publication was greeted with widespread public outcry, with some calling on President Mahama to dismiss the appointees who have defied his directive.

Five days later, the president has responded.

Speaking at the launch of a new Code of Conduct for his appointees at the Flagstaff House on Monday, May 5, 2025, the President said all affected appointees will forfeit three months’ salary as punishment for failing to meet the March 31 deadline he set earlier this year.

“On February 18, 2025, I set a deadline of March 31 for all appointees who had taken office or had been nominated at the time to declare their assets,” the President said.

”An update provided by the Audit Service to my office indicates that some of you failed to meet that deadline.”

President Mahama announced that the forfeited salaries would be donated to a newly established Ghana Medical Trust Fund named after him—‘Mahama Cares’—designed to support specialist-level treatment for a wide range of chronic illnesses, including cancers, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, chronic kidney failure, stroke, and others.

“In addition to the one-month salary that I have asked all appointees to donate to the Mahama Cares Trust Fund, it means those who failed to declare their assets by the deadline are paying a total of four months’ salary to the fund,” he clarified.

However, the President warned that stiffer sanctions awaited those who still had not complied.

“If by close of day, Wednesday, 7th May 2025, any of you still fails to declare your assets, count yourself automatically dismissed,” he cautioned.

President Mahama emphasised that the asset declaration regime remains one of the most powerful legal tools in the fight against corruption and abuse of office.

He described the law, anchored in Article 286 of the 1992 Constitution and Act 550, as a non-negotiable requirement for all public officials, regardless of rank.

“The asset declaration regime is an important mechanism to check corruption and abuse of office, and it must be respected by all,” he said.

Background

President Mahama publicly declared his assets and liabilities on February 18, 2025, and directed all his appointees to do the same by March 31, 2025, warning that failure to comply would attract severe sanctions, including dismissal.

This was meant to demonstrate a commitment to transparency and enforce Article 286 of the 1992 Constitution and the Public Office Holders (Declaration of Assets and Disqualification) Act, 1998 (Act 550), which require public officials to declare their assets and liabilities either before or shortly after assuming office.

However, investigations by The Fourth Estate reveal that as of April 17, 2025—nearly a month after the deadline—32% of the President’s appointees had failed to comply. These include 55 ministers, deputy ministers, presidential staffers, and heads of state institutions appointed between January 15 and March 18.

High-profile defaulters include Presidential Adviser, Seth Terkper; Special Envoy to the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), Larry Gbevlo-Lartey; Director of Operations at the Presidency, Nathan Kofi Boakye; Director of National Investigations Bureau (NIB), Charles Kipo; Deputy Minister of Roads and Highways, Alhassan Suhuyini; Deputy Minister of Works and Housing, Gizella Tetteh-Agbotui; and Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, John Dumelo.

The Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority, Anthony Kwasi Sarpong and Dr. Peter Otukunor, head of Presidential Initiatives in Agriculture, were also cited through the data The Fourth Estate obtained from the Audit Service through a Right to Information (RTI) request.

Former Auditor-General Daniel Yao Domelevo criticised the failure to comply, stating that appointees are constitutionally mandated to declare their assets before taking office. While he disagreed with the president’s assumption deadline, he insisted the directive should have at least been respected.

“If I were the president, you’re gone—nothing will save you,” he fired!

Scores of Ghanaians believe that the widespread non-compliance raises serious questions about accountability and the political will to enforce anti-corruption laws within the new administration.

During President Mahama’s first term from January 2013 to January 2017, at least 11 of his ministers never declared their assets.

YOU MAY ALSO WANT TO READ:

ASSET DECLARATION: 55 Appointees & Staffers Defy Mahama’s Order.… Will the President go by his words, or it was just empty threat? – The Fourth Estate

Asset Declarations: Full list of Mahama appointees who have complied — and those who haven’t — as of April 17 – The Fourth Estate

May 5, 2025
ASSET DECLARATION: 55 Appointees & Staffers Defy Mahama’s Order.… Will the President go by his words, or it was just empty threat?

Fifty-five appointees in the John Mahama administration have defied the president’s ultimatum to declare their assets and liabilities by March 31, 2025.

An analysis by The Fourth Estate reveals that eight out of 55 ministers and deputy ministers have failed to comply with the law and the president’s directive. Similarly, eight out of 32 presidential staffers and 38 of the 84 heads of state institutions appointed between January 15 and March 18 have yet to meet the president’s anti-graft directive as of April 17, 2024.

This means that 32% of the appointees have ignored the president’s directive and failed to fulfill an important constitutional obligation.

Prominent figures on the list of defaulters in the new administration include Seth Terkper, Presidential Adviser on the Economy; Larry Gbevlo-Lartey, Special Envoy to the Alliance of Sahelian States; Nathan Kofi Boakye, Director of Operations at the Presidency; Charles Kipo, Director of the National Investigations Bureau; Nana Yaa Jantuah, a presidential staffer; Alhassan Suhuyini, Deputy Minister of Roads and Highways; Gizella Tetteh-Agbotui, Deputy Minister of Works and Housing; and John Dumelo, Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture.

Others on the list of defaulters The Fourth Estate compiled through a Right to Information request includes Commissioner-General of the Ghana Revenue Authority Anthony Kwasi Sarpong and Dr Peter Otukunor, who is in charge of Presidential Initiatives in Agriculture and Agribusiness at the Presidency.

President Mahama’s directive

When President John Mahama summoned the Auditor-General, Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu, to the Jubilee House on February 18, 2025, to publicly declare his own assets and liabilities, he sent a strong signal that his government would strictly enforce the constitutional requirement for public officials to declare their assets and liabilities.

He followed the symbolic public gesture with a stern directive to all his appointees to comply with the law by March 31, 2025 or face the consequence.

“I have taken this step to send an unmistakable signal to all public officeholders, especially those that I have appointed that I take the declaration of assets very seriously and expect full compliance from them,” the president declared. “I have asked the chief of staff to send word to all appointees to ensure that they declare their assets by the end of the first quarter of this year, that is by 31^st March, 2025. I wish to stress that any appointee failing to meet this deadline would face severe sanctions not excluding removal from office.”

Almost 30 days after the President’s deadline, some ministers and deputy ministers have failed to fulfil perhaps the most important constitutional obligation, something they are required to do either before or after taking the oath of office. Similarly, some presidential staffers who work in the office of the president have defied the directive.

The asset and liabilities declaration requirement are enshrined in Article 286 of the 1992 Constitution and the Public Office Holders (Declaration of Assets and Disqualification) Act, 1998 (Act 550). These demand that public officials including the President, Vice-President, the Speaker, Deputy Speakers of Parliament, ministers and deputy ministers of state, ambassadors, metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives, the Chief Justice and heads of state-owned enterprises, submit to the Auditor-General written declarations of all property or assets owned by, or liabilities owed by them, whether directly or indirectly.

They are to do this upon assumption of office, every four years, and at the end of their tenure.

The process involves picking up a declaration form from the Auditor-General’s Office, filling it out, sealing it, and submitting it back to the Auditor-General.

President Mahama’s highly publicized asset declaration in February was meant to set the tone for a transparent and accountable administration.

“We must not only comply with the law but also demonstrate to the public that we have nothing to hide,” he told his appointees during the meeting.

But the findings by The Fourth Estate raise questions about the level of compliance by his appointees and whether they are as committed to transparency and accountability as their boss sought to demonstrate.

“Even as we strive to hold the past government accountable for their stewardship, I deem it even more imperative to enforce anti-corruption [laws] among our present public officeholders,” President Mahama said of his resolve to enforce the law. “Charity, they say begins at home. I am therefore determined that we fight corruption vigorously so that the precious little resources that has been entrusted to us by the Ghanaian people are used only in their interest.”

Mahama’s first term defaulters

President Mahama’s appointees have a history of non-compliance to the asset declaration law.

In October 2015, when President John Mahama sat behind the microphones of Twin City Radio in Takoradi, he was categorical that all his appointees had fulfilled their asset declaration obligations.

In reality, however, only 31 ministers out of 101 ministers who served in Mr Mahama’s first term (from 2013 to 2017) fully complied with the law. 11 ministers completely failed to comply. More than 50 others partially complied – either whiles in office or at the end of their tenure.

Mahama’s 11 ministers who never declared their assets from 2013-2017

Sack them all — Domelevo

A former Auditor General, Daniel Yao Domelevo, told The Fourth Estate that those who fail to declare their assets should face severe consequences.

He stated that the constitution clearly requires public office holders to declare their assets before assuming office. While he disagrees with the President’s deadline, which he says does not align with the constitutional requirement, he emphasized that the defaulting appointees have not only violated the law but also disrespected the President.

“You’re supposed to declare before even going into office,” Mr. Domelovo says. “If I were the president, you’re gone, nothing will save you. The president has given a directive that does not conform with the law. [But] at the minimum, you should respect [his ultimatum].”

CHRAJ’s position

Mr Domelevo also takes issue with the Commission on Human Right and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) over what he claims is the commission’s soft stance on defaulting public officeholders.

“I have been on CHRAJ that they are not helping us because anyone who is sent [to CHRAJ is just told] to ‘go and sin no more.’ This should not be tolerated,” he says.

When The Fourth Estate contacted the Commissioner of CHRAJ, Joseph Whittal, regarding the consequences for failing to declare assets, he said he was unable to share his position, as he had already submitted it for consideration in the draft 2021 Conduct of Public Officers Bill, which is yet to be passed.

“The final version is in the AG’s office. I don’t want to venture into something that is outside of what I have myself recommended. Because I don’t have a copy of the final version to look on,” Mr. Whittal said.

He, however, indicated that his position is reflected in CHRAJ’s ruling on the petition against the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Jean Mensa, for failing to declare her assets and liabilities.

According to multiple media reports, CHRAJ concluded that since the EC Chairperson had declared her assets and liabilities with the Auditor General — albeit later than the law stipulates — the complaint did not merit further investigation.

Mrs. Mensah was appointed on August 1, 2018, but declared her assets and liabilities on February 17, 2019. This violated Article 286 of the 1992 Constitution, which requires such declarations to be made before assuming office. However, it aligns with Act 550, which sets the deadline at six months.

CHAJ’s position, contained in its investigative report was that: “Having established in the course of the investigation that the Respondent has now complied with Article 286, albeit late, the Commission is of the considered view that the appropriate action, having regard to the circumstances of the case, is to refuse to investigate the matter any further as further investigation would not be necessary.”

Assets declaration is seen as crucial in fighting corruption by helping to track illicit wealth public office holders may acquire while in office.

According to the law, any assets acquired by a public officer holder after the initial declaration, which does not come from “sources reasonably attributed to income, gift, loan, inheritance or any other reasonable source would be classified” as illegal.

ASSET DECLARATION under John Mahama. 2025 Download

Editor’s note: In an earlier version of this publication, we indicated that Dr Adam Bonaa, the Executive Secretary of the Small Arms and Light Weapons Commission, and Ernest Brogya Genfi, the Deputy Minister of Defence, did not declare their assets and liabilities. The error is regretted.

April 30, 2025
Full details: Illegal mining spree on Manhyia-linked concession

It remains to be seen, what steps the government will take after the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, publicly lamented that illegal miners had overran a gold prospecting concession belonging to him.

He revealed that unauthorized mining was taking place on the concession without his knowledge, raising serious questions about who is responsible for the environmental destruction from the illegal mining operations which have devastated the banks of the Tano River.

“I have heard that the concession Ayisi [former chief executive of the Minerals Commission] granted me has been overran by illegal (galamsey) miners. But I don’t even know the place,” he said on February 14, 2025, when the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, visited him at the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi.

“The concession was given to me, and I intended to develop it, only to hear that illegal miners had taken over,” Otumfuo Osei Tutu said. “If I am accused of engaging in galamsey as a traditional ruler, what can I say when I do not even know where the place is?”

His remarks have brought The Fourth Estate’s scrutiny to Bodukwan Holding Company Limited, the entity holding the concession, and its links to the Manhyia Palace. Investigations by The Fourth Estate suggest that despite having only a prospecting license, extensive mining has taken place on the concession, raising legal and environmental concerns.

Bodukwan Holding Company Limited applied for a prospecting license on June 2, 2023, to explore for gold in Moseaso, Odumase in the Western Region. Six months later, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources approved the request, granting the company three years to conduct exploration over an area the size of 250 football pitches. A significant portion of this concession overlaps with the Tano River, a key water source for communities in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire.

Prospecting licenses allow companies to conduct preliminary exploration but do not permit mining activities. Yet, satellite imagery reviewed by The Fourth Estate reveals widespread mining on the concession – evidence that illegal operations are taking place on the concession.

Environmental degradation and legal violations

Ghana’s mining laws prohibit activities that degrade the environment, particularly near water bodies. While the law does not explicitly require a 100-meter buffer zone, both the Minerals Commission and Water Resources Commission have advised that mining should not take place within this range to prevent pollution. In 2021, the government declared riverbanks no-go areas for mining, a directive emphasized by then-President Nana Akufo-Addo and former Lands Minister, Samuel Jinapor.

The Fourth Estate found that Bodukwan Holding lacks key regulatory approvals, including an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) permit and a Water Use Permit from the Water Resources Commission (WRC). The Minerals Commission has also refused to provide a list of companies with operating permits.

Who owns Bodukwan Holding?

Incorporation records from the Office of the Registrar of Companies show that Bodukwan Holding is closely linked to Manhyia Palace. The company’s beneficial owner, Nana Duah Bonsu, serves as a co-director alongside Mujeeb Rahman Ahmed, a lawyer for Manhyia Palace, and Julia Ama Adwapa Amaning, widely known as Lady Julia, the wife of the Asantehene.

Beyond its mining interests, Bodukwan Holding is also the parent company of the Bodukwan Multifruit Processing Factory, which processes mangoes from its farms in the Nkoranza North District.

When contacted, Mujeeb Rahman Ahmed denied any involvement in illegal mining. He insisted that Bodukwan Holding had not begun operations at its site near Bibiani, let alone engaged in mining. This was before the Asantehene’s recent public remarks about the invasion of illegal miners on the concession.

“If anyone is there, we need to deal with them,” Mr. Rahman told The Fourth Estate. “We have no knowledge of any such activity. If someone is mining in our name, it is wrong. We are not aware of it.”

Who could be responsible?

Environmental activists argue that once a company obtains a concession, it is legally responsible for protecting it from illegal mining. Kwaku Afari, Technical Director of WACAM, an environmental advocacy group, maintains that if mining is taking place on a concession with only a prospecting lease, then the company is in breach of the law. He stressed that companies are required to report illegal activities to the Minerals Commission and security agencies and are responsible for securing their own land.

Under Article 18 of the Constitution, Mr. Afari noted, every individual has the right to protect their property. He also pointed out that if a company remains silent while its land is used for illegal mining, it raises questions about whether it is benefiting from the activity or is simply being negligent.

His concerns were echoed by Sandow Ali, Director of Mining at the EPA, who emphasized that companies cannot operate without securing four essential permits: a license from the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, an EPA permit, an operating permit from the Minerals Commission, and a water use permit from the Water Resources Commission. He made it clear that obtaining a ministerial license alone does not grant the right to begin mining and that any activity without the full set of approvals is illegal.

Will the government intervene?

With clear evidence of mining activity on Bodukwan’s concession and a lack of regulatory compliance, the question remains: will the government take action? The Asantehene’s frustration highlights the broader challenge of illegal mining in a country where even high-profile concessions are not spared from galamsey operations.

Editor’s note: A portion of this story has been revised.

March 6, 2025