The Agbogbomefia of the Asogli State, Togbe Afede XIV, has urged the government to live up to its promise to retrieve all public funds lost through corruption under the erstwhile government.

He lauded the Operation Recover All Loots (ORAL) initiative, hoping it would help bring corrupt officers to book and not just remain a mantra on the lips and in books.

Togbe Afede was speaking at the grand durbar of the 2025 Asogoi Te Za (Yam Festival), of which the Vice President, Prof Nanaa Jane Opoku Agyemang and other distinguished public servants, traditional leaders, among others, were in attendance. It was themed “Together in honesty and purpose, we build a just, peaceful, prosperous nation”.

“Recently, we seem to have succeeded in making the beautiful name Ghana almost synonymous with the word corruption. And that is why I like ORAL, the Operation Recover All Loot. I must commend the government for it and to tell the government to stay the course to recover all that they have looted from the state coffers”, he said.

Commitment to fighting corruption

Togbe Afede said that his fortunes are intertwined with those of Ghana’s and would suffer replicating effects if Ghana retrogresses, hence he would continue to fight corruption, which he identified as a major stumbling block to Ghana's development.

He lamented how corruption had robbed the resource-rich country of development due to the greed of those entrusted with the duty to lead and develop the country.

He explained that the unfortunate development has led to desperation among the citizenry, resulting in emigration, high incidents of crime, and suicide.

Togbe Afede stressed the need to strengthen the constitution, anti-corruption institutions, and impose stringent punishment for corrupt officials “to make corruption unattractive”.

“We have to ensure that our institutions that have to fight corruption work. So, we have to strengthen our constitution, in particular the likes of the judiciary, Economic and Organised Crime Organisation, of course the Office of the Special Prosecutor, all of them need strengthening to ensure that we are all encouraged to pursue the path of deepest honesty in all of our work both in the private and public sectors”, he said.

He called for an attitudinal change among the citizenry, hoping corruption would be reduced to the barest minimum to save the public purse and promote development.

22 years of reign on the Asogli stool

This year’s festival marked the 22nd anniversary of Togbe Afede’s reign as the leader of the Asogli State.

He acknowledged the support for his bid to harness development in the Asogli area, applauding the beginning of the construction of road infrastructure under the Big Push Project, stretching from Asikuma, through Ho to Aflao.

“The President came along and surprised us with the Big Push, an agenda that has gladdened the hearts of people of the Volta Region because of the critical place the road sector has in the Big Push agenda. And of course, the emphasis that it places on the Volta Region roads”, he said.

He also highlighted plans by the Tema Development Corporation to begin a national residential housing drive initiative in Ho.