The Member of Parliament-elect for the Banda Constituency, Ahmed Ibrahim, has condemned Majority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin's claim that Operation Recover All Loots (ORAL) is a personal vendetta.

During his speech at the dissolution ceremony of the 8th Parliament on Monday, Mr Afenyo-Markin described ORAL as unnecessary, claiming it was an agenda to frustrate governance.

He also argued that the committee has no legal backing and should not be tolerated.

• Read also: ORAL a needless committee, only for personal vendetta – Afenyo-Markin

However, Ahmed Ibrahim disagreed and explained that ORAL is part of the NDC’s 2024 campaign manifesto and is widely accepted by the general public.

“The ORAL initiative was part of the NDC manifesto, and Ghanaians gave the NDC manifesto a two-thirds majority in Parliament. The ORAL proposal was a key part of the NDC's platform, which contributed to the largest electoral victory in the history of the Fourth Republic,

The ORAL initiative has won the hearts of Ghanaians, which is why we won with about 1.6 million votes. It is something that Ghanaians have endorsed,” he said.

Mr Ibrahim, who also serves as First Deputy Minority Chief Whip, was speaking on Joy FM’s Top Story with Samuel Kojo Brace.

He further argued that ORAL is more akin to a suggestion box, meaning Afenyo-Markin's concerns about its lack of legal grounding are irrelevant.

“Talking about the legality or illegality, the ORAL initiative has no prosecutorial powers; it is just like a suggestion box. If you know of any corruption case happening somewhere, you can provide the information to the ORAL team. Afenyo-Markin has no business making the claims he is making,” he explained.

The president-elect, John Mahama's Operation Recover All Loots is an initiative proposed by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) as part of their 2024 election campaign. The primary goal of ORAL is to investigate alleged corruption by officials from the outgoing New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.

It focuses on identifying and recovering any state assets that may have been improperly or illegally taken during the NPP's time in power.