The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has expressed disappointment at the Court of Appeal’s decision on July 30, to acquit and discharge the former Chief Executive Officer of the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), Madam Sedinam Tamakloe.

According to the party’s statement, Madam Tamakloe was convicted by the High Court in April 2024 on multiple counts of stealing, causing financial loss to the State, money laundering and breaches of the Public Procurement Act, and was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment.

"Let the facts speak for themselves. Madam Tamakloe Attionu was tried by a competent court of jurisdiction over a period of five years," it said.

The party noted that the trial court, after a painstaking examination of the evidence, found that her conduct as CEO of MASLOC between 2013 and 2016 occasioned a loss of almost GHS 90 million to the Ghanaian taxpayer.

The statement said she fled the jurisdiction while on trial, was convicted in absentia, and had to be extradited from the United States of America at great cost and effort, only to arrive in Ghana on June 9, 2026.

It added that, barely seven weeks later, she walked free, and that anyone who has carefully read the judgment of Her Ladyship Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe convicting Madam Tamakloe Ationu will appreciate the sheer weight of evidence that was available to the court, and which led to the conviction.

The judgment, the party said, meticulously details, count after count, the fraudulent disbursements, the unaccounted-for funds including monies meant for loan beneficiaries and for victims of the Kantamanto Market disaster, as well as the deliberate schemes by which the resources of MASLOC were diverted.

The NPP said a conviction anchored on such an abundance of evidence being overturned in this manner defies logic, law and common sense.

The party further expressed its disappointment and asserted, without equivocation, that this acquittal is politically motivated, orchestrated and planned.

The NPP criticised the speed and convenience with which the matter has been disposed of, noting that the timing, so soon after her extradition, and the conduct of the Attorney-General since January 2025 leave no room for any other conclusion.

"Ghanaians will recall that this same Attormey-General has, through a series of nolle prosequi and discontinuations, freed virtually every person affiliated to the governing party who stood trial for offences against the public purse.

"Today's development merely completes that shameful project. What could not be achieved through the front door of a nolle prosequi given that the accused stood already convicted has now been achieved through the back door.

"The pattern is unmistakable: if you are connected to the government of the day, the criminal justice system will find a way to set you free, no matter how grave the findings against you, and no matter how many millions of Ghana cedis of the people's money are involved.

"This is a travesty of justice in the truest sense of the phrase. It makes a mockery of the years of investigative work by the Economic and Organised Crime Office, the diligence of the trial court, the resources expended on her extradition, and above all, the right of the Ghanaian people to see the public purse protected.

"It is also a clear and troubling sign of a politicised judiciary, one in which outcomes appear to track political colours rather than the evidence and the law.

"When justice is dispensed on the basis of party affiliation, the very foundation of our constitutional democracy is imperilled.

"The message this government has sent to the world today is chilling: in Ghana, accountability is for opponents, and impunity is for friends.

In a statement signed and issued by Justin Kodua Frimpong, General Secretary of the party, the NPP made the following demands:

"Since it is now abundantly clear that the Attorney-General and the machinery of justice under this administration have no intention whatsoever of protecting the public purse, the Attorney General should, as a matter of consistency and fairness, immediately discontinue and discharge all appointees of the previous NPP administration currently standing trial.

"It cannot be the case that the law is a weapon against one side of the political divide and a shield for the other.

"Bernard Antwi Boasiako (Chairman Wontumi), the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the NPP, must be immediately acquitted and discharged.

"His conviction and the outrageous sentence of twenty (20) years' imprisonment with hard labour, was politically motivated and procured without sufficient evidence, a fact his lawyers have set out in more than twenty grounds of appeal now pending before the Court of Appeal.

"The contrast could not be starker: if the one against whom a mountain of evidence was marshalled, and who was duly convicted after a full trial, has today been acquitted and discharged, on what conceivable basis does the State continue to keep Chairman Wontumi behind bars, when his conviction rests on no such evidence?

"The continued incarceration of Chairman Wontumi exposes the naked double standard at the heart of this administration's so-called fight against corruption.

"The Attorney General must render a full public account of every case involving persons affiliated to the governing party that has been discontinued, withdrawn or otherwise terminated since January 2025, together with the reasons therefor.

"The Judicial Council and the leadership of the Judiciary must take urgent steps to restore public confidence in the administration of justice, which today's decision has gravely undermined."

The NPP also assured Ghanaians that it will pursue every lawful avenue, including seeking a review of the Court of Appeal decision at the Supreme Court where applicable, to ensure that those who plundered the public purse are held to account.

"The fight against corruption cannot and must not be a partisan convenience. Ghana deserves better. The public purse belongs to the people, not to any political party," it added.