Prosecute Adu-Boahene Despite Threats to Leak National Security Secrets
Governance analyst and lecturer at the University of Ghana Business School, Dr. Benjamin Otchere-Ankrah has called on the government to go ahead with the prosecution of former Director-General of the National Signals Bureau (NSB) Kwabena Adu-Boahene despite threats from his legal team that doing so could lead to the exposure of national security secrets.
In an interview with GhanaWeb monitored by mrwoode.com on May 22, 2025, Dr. Otchere-Ankrah dismissed the warning issued by lawyer Samuel Atta Akyea who represents Adu-Boahene. The lawyer had claimed that proceeding with the case could have serious implications for Ghana’s national security.
However, Dr. Otchere-Ankrah argued that the fear of leaking national security information should not prevent the state from holding public officers accountable for the misuse of state resources.
He should be prosecuted irrespective of the information he leaked. If he has gone to misuse state money he should be prosecuted and nobody should think of stopping it. Even American information is leaked. Did you not hear recently that one of their national security heads mistakenly added a journalist to their page, and information was leaked? Has America collapsed? Certainly not, the lecturer said.
He stressed that Ghana must uphold the rule of law and take bold steps to recover stolen state funds. He also called for the confiscation of assets belonging to Adu-Boahene and any accomplices involved in the case.
He can leak whatever information but he should be prosecuted They should seize all his assets and those of all the people who were involved, he added.
Dr. Otchere-Ankrah expressed deep frustration over how corruption continues to deprive the nation of vital resources needed for development.
It is so demeaning and heartbreaking that we don’t have money to fix our roads, leading to flooding to keep our lights on and people are misusing state funds in this manner and for him to come and threaten that if you prosecute me I will leak information. They should prosecute him, he stated firmly.
The lecturer also criticised how a letter Adu-Boahene reportedly wrote to the National Security Coordinator ended up in the media. He questioned how a suspect in a sensitive case could be allowed to communicate with the outside world and share sensitive information.
You know this cannot happen in an Arabic country where you are in a cell and still have access to the media and be saying all kinds of nonsense, he remarked.
If he wrote to the national security, how was it leaked? Even that alone should be a subject of investigation. Did he leak it himself, or was it the office that leaked it?” he questioned.
The Attorney General Dr. Dominic Ayine has filed 11 criminal charges against Kwabena Adu-Boahene including the unlawful transfer of GH¢49 million (approximately $7 million) from the NSB’s accounts into his personal account.
In a letter to the National Security Coordinator Atta Akyea warned that the prosecution of Adu-Boahene could compromise Ghana’s national security. He further argued that the charges violated the Security and Intelligence Agencies Act, 2020 (Act 1030) and the National Signals Bureau Act, 2020 (Act 1040).
Adu-Boahene has denied stealing from the state and submitted a list of individuals and organisations who allegedly received the funds as part of national security operations. Some of the listed recipients were Members of Parliament, though some have denied receiving such payments.
This case has sparked national debate on the balance between state secrecy and accountability. Many are now calling on the government to pursue justice without fear or favour.