Armed military personnel, police officers, and plainclothes security operatives raided the residence of former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta on the morning of Tuesday, February 11, 2025.
Eyewitnesses report that Mr. Ofori-Atta’s private security team demanded a warrant but the armed personnel forcefully entered the premises, ransacked the house, conducted an extensive search, found nothing, and left without explanation.
Abuse of power
This lawless operation carried out under military backing, signals a dangerous shift toward authoritarian tactics, where brute force replaces due process and political witch-hunts are disguised as security operations.
For a government that once vehemently opposed the use of military forces for political purposes, such an incident reeks of hypocrisy. The very leaders who condemned military intimidation while in opposition are now wielding state power in the same reckless manner.
Political witch-hunt or national security?
The deployment of armed soldiers for what appears to be a politically motivated raid is indefensible. It exposes a disturbing mindset—one that treats power as an entitlement and political opponents as enemies to be harassed into submission.
If this lawlessness is allowed to continue, no citizen will be safe from arbitrary state aggression. This raid, conducted in broad daylight, is not just an abuse of power—it is a warning sign of the dangerous path this government is willing to take. Democracy cannot thrive in an environment where political opponents are hunted down without cause.
Ofori-Atta’s absence
What makes this incident even more shocking is that Ken Ofori-Atta was not even in the country at the time of the raid. Before the handover of power, he had sought and received official clearance from the former Chief of Staff to travel abroad for medical treatment. After the transition, he formally informed the new Chief of Staff of his continued stay abroad for health reasons.
Given this, the government cannot claim ignorance of his whereabouts. The decision to storm his house despite knowing he and his wife were outside the country—and without any legal warrants for search or arrest—amounts to a flagrant abuse of power.
This raid is a chilling indicator of the government’s willingness to use state security forces to intimidate and silence political figures. Ghanaians who believe in democracy, due process, and the rule of law must condemn this blatant violation of rights before it becomes a dangerous norm.
By Baba Alhassan Abass/thenewsbulletin24.com