The Majority Leader, Mahama Ayariga, has stated that the call for accountability over the management of public resources under the previous administration should not be interpreted as political persecution but as a constitutional obligation.

Speaking on the floor of Parliament during the debate on the State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Wednesday, March 11, Mr. Ayariga responded to concerns raised by the Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, about alleged harassment and human rights abuses against former appointees of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Mr. Ayariga said the demand for accountability was necessary to protect public resources and strengthen democratic governance.

“The call for accountability is not a pursuit of vengeance. It is a requirement of constitutional hygiene. When a regime exits the corridors of power, leaving behind a trail of depleted reserves, astronomical debt and unvouched expenditures, the silence of the successor is not statesmanship; it is complicity,” he said.

The Majority Leader warned that ignoring alleged financial mismanagement would send the wrong message that public funds could be misused without consequences.

“To ignore the financial misdeeds of the past is to tell the future that the public purse is a trophy for the swift rather than a trust for the people,” he added.

Mr. Ayariga emphasised that Ghana cannot build a resilient democracy on a foundation of impunity, stressing the need for individuals who misused public resources to face the law.

He argued that accountability serves as the ultimate deterrent against fiscal recklessness, citing the economic challenges that followed the Ghana Domestic Debt Exchange Programme and concerns about inflated sole-source contracts.

“If the architects of the 2022 debt default and the pervasion of inflationary sole-source contracts walk away into comfortable retirement, we effectively institutionalise corruption as a low-risk, high-reward venture,” he stated.

Mr Ayariga added that pursuing forensic audits and legal recovery would demonstrate that the value-for-money principle in public spending is a binding legal requirement rather than mere rhetoric.

According to him, the pursuit of financial accountability is critical to restoring public trust in Ghana’s democratic institutions. “We do not seek to settle scores; we seek to settle the accounts of the republic,” he said.