A leaked internal memorandum from Ghana’s former National Signals Bureau (NSB) Director-General, Kwabena Adu-Boahene, has surfaced, detailing controversial security expenditures including GH₵8.3 million (approximately $650,000) in support of an unnamed opposition party ahead of the country’s contentious 2024 general elections.

The confidential document, cited by TheDotNews, outlines a series of expenditures categorized under “Special Operations” between 2020 and 2024. Among them: allocations for surveillance technology, luxury vehicles, parliamentary incentives, and electoral logistics. The most politically explosive claim is that taxpayer funds were used to equip an opposition party with “communications infrastructure,” ostensibly to bolster electoral transparency and national stability.

In a note justifying the GH₵8.3 million September 2024 disbursement, the memo frames the expense as essential to maintaining “national cohesion” and “political impartiality.”

The revelations come as Mr. Adu-Boahene and his wife, Angela Adjei Boateng, face 11 charges ranging from money laundering to defrauding by false pretenses. The Attorney-General’s office pegs the total alleged misappropriation at GH₵49 million (approximately $3.8 million). Two additional defendants, including corporate entity Advantage Solutions Ltd., are also implicated.

Mr. Adu-Boahene, currently in the custody of the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO), disputes the charges, asserting the expenditures were authorized and within the scope of national security mandates. “How does one steal public funds without the Auditor-General flagging it?” he asks in the memo, challenging the legitimacy of the prosecution.

The document further reveals nearly GH₵1.3 million in parliamentary disbursements between 2020 and 2024. These include GH₵960,000 in “allowances” to the Defence and Interior Committee for passing the National Signals Bureau Act, and GH₵309,000 to the Subsidiary Legislation Committee.

Election-related expenditures exceeded GH₵14 million across two cycles—GH₵7.2 million during the 2020 polls and GH₵6.7 million in 2024. Notably, GH₵5.1 million was spent on high-end vehicles, including Nissan Patrols and a Toyota Land Cruiser, reportedly for a “Special Aide to the President-Elect” in 2024 polls

In addition, GH₵9.5 million went toward cyber surveillance systems, under codenames such as Taurus, Scorpion, and Essien. Counter-terror operations, grouped under “Operation Conquered Fist,” consumed a further GH₵6.9 million over four years.

The leaked disclosures have reignited public scrutiny over Ghana’s security financing and political neutrality. Legal experts say the line between covert state operations and political manipulation has grown increasingly opaque.

“This case tests not only the boundaries of financial accountability but the credibility of national institutions in safeguarding democratic integrity,” said a political analyst in Accra.

Source:TheDotNews