Court grants EOCO warrant to arrest Manhyia South MP Baffour Awuah

Pinned summary · as of 17:45

A High Court in Accra has issued a warrant allowing the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) to detain Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah, who represents Manhyia South in Parliament, and to search for and seize documents linked to its investigation. The order came about a week after EOCO officers tried to detain him at the court complex on 23 September, an episode that the agency and the MP describe very differently.

What we know

• The warrant was granted on an application by EOCO's lawyers, who also asked for permission to search for and seize documents the agency considers relevant.
• EOCO's lawyers told the court that officers had run out of reasonable ways to bring the MP in voluntarily, and that they feared relevant documents might be hidden, changed or destroyed.
• On 23 September, EOCO officers tried to take Mr Baffour Awuah into custody at the High Court complex in Accra.
• EOCO says it sent the MP two invitations in February 2026 addressed to him as Senior Partner at Sarkodie Baffour Awuah & Partners, a firm hired to recover money for SIC Life Savings and Loans, and that he failed to respond to either.
• Mr Baffour Awuah rejects that version. He says the letters were meant for the firm's senior partner in connection with its client, that he had already become an MP and passed the matter to the Clerk to Parliament, and that a representative of the firm met investigators on 4 March, 18 March and 30 April and gave a written statement.
• Mr Baffour Awuah says the inquiry stems from his former firm's work for SIC Life Savings and Loans, which had placed about GH₵3.5 million with Equity Savings and Loans; he says interest pushed what was owed to roughly GH₵14 million.
• EOCO has not spelled out the full substance of its investigation in public.

What's disputed / unconfirmed

• ?
  Adom Online reported that Inusah Fuseini, a former MP for Tamale Central and a private lawyer, alleged on JoyNews' PM Express that Mr Baffour Awuah took fees above the legal limit in a deal he linked to SSNIT and Equity. Mr Fuseini added that further transactions were also being looked at. Mr Baffour Awuah maintains that his role in the SIC transaction was proper and that he followed his client's instructions. EOCO has not publicly confirmed the allegation.
• ?
  Onua Online reported Mr Fuseini's comments on TV3's Daily Brief on 30 September, in which he said he could not understand why the MP stayed away from EOCO, arguing that the agency works on the presumption of innocence and that invited persons can explain themselves. These are his views, not findings.
• ?
  Onua Online and The Herald Ghana said the Ghana Bar Association criticised the way the arrest was attempted at the court premises and warned that action against lawyers representing clients must respect due process; Onua Online quoted the association as calling it unprofessional. No other report has confirmed the association's position.
• ?
  Onua Online reported that Majority Leader James Agalga argued EOCO should have routed any request about a sitting MP through the Speaker of Parliament. This is his argument alone.
• ?
  Onua Online, Rainbow Radio Online and The Herald Ghana pointed to reports that investigators are examining a 15 per cent legal-fee arrangement and payments tied to SIC Life's former management. Neither EOCO nor the MP has confirmed this, and Rainbow Radio Online said no formal charges had been established.
• ?
  Onua Online, citing 3News, Rainbow Radio Online and The Custodian reported that another opposition MP is part of the same investigation. EOCO has not confirmed this.
• ?
  The Custodian reported an EOCO statement saying officers stopped the 23 September operation because further action could endanger public safety. EOCO alleged that two people helped the MP get away, said it was studying video of the incident and said it knew he had gone to the grounds of Parliament, which is in recess. It added that it respects the privileges and immunities of MPs. None of this has been confirmed by other reports.
• ?
  Adom Online reported Mr Baffour Awuah's account that his firm sued Equity Savings and Loans and won a summary judgment but struggled to find assets to attach, that Equity paid over GH₵1 million during roughly two years, and that a company claiming land at Oyibi sought a negotiated settlement. No other report carried these details.
• ?
  Reports differ on Equity Savings and Loans. Rainbow Radio Online describes it as defunct, and Onua Online quoted the MP using the same word, while Adom Online, citing JoyNews, says the Bank of Ghana still lists it as licensed and that its branches in East Legon, Dome and New Town were closed, with customers saying they could not withdraw their money.

Why it matters for Ghana

The case sets the state's financial-crime investigator against a sitting MP who also practises law, and it puts the question of how investigators may approach lawmakers and lawyers working in court before Parliament, the legal profession and the public. It also involves money placed with a savings and loans company, a type of institution that many Ghanaian savers and small traders rely on. EOCO has not yet said in public what it is investigating, so the picture remains incomplete.