President John Dramani Mahama has challenged former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta to return to Ghana, arguing that anyone convinced of their innocence should not avoid facing legal processes in their home country.

Speaking during the Reset Tour and Citizens’ Engagement in the Volta Region on Friday, July 17, the President said he found it difficult to understand why Ofori-Atta had remained outside the country if he believed he had committed no wrongdoing.

“If you are a man of principle and you believe you have done nothing wrong, I don’t see why you should flee your own country,” Mahama said.

The President made a direct appeal to the former Finance Minister to voluntarily return to Ghana instead of waiting for the government’s ongoing extradition efforts to run their course.

Drawing on Ofori-Atta’s own remarks while he was in office, Mahama recalled that the former minister once likened himself to a father who could not abandon his children, even when facing mounting pressure from members of his own party to step down.

According to Mahama, the same sense of responsibility should compel him to come back and address the matters concerning him.

“At the point when your own members of parliament, 80 of them, signed an application that the president should remove you… You said you are like the father of children… So if we Ghanaians are your children, we are calling you; we are begging you, Father, come back. Your children are calling you to come back,” he stated.

President Mahama also assured that any attempt to secure Ofori-Atta’s return would be conducted strictly in accordance with the law, stressing that extradition is a judicial process that must respect the rights of the individual concerned.

“Extradition or return of fugitives from justice is a legal process, and so you need to respect the rights of the person at the same time,” he said.

Providing an update on the process, Mahama disclosed that the Attorney-General’s Department has already filed the required application and is submitting additional documentation requested by the relevant authorities.

Ofori-Atta is currently outside Ghana, with the government pursuing legal procedures aimed at securing his return through the extradition process.