Allegations of Shady Debt Collection Drowns Victimization Claims
By Stanley Assor
The Member of Parliament for Manhyia South, Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah, finds himself at the center of a deepening controversy involving the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO), allegations of financial malfeasance, and a calculated legal offensive against his accusers.
What began as an investigation into a suspicious debt collection arrangement has spiraled into a saga of skipped invitations, resisting arrest, and what critics describe as a textbook attempt to gag the press.
At the heart of the matter is a debt collection arrangement dating back to the Akufo-Addo administration. According to the MP, he was hired by the state-owned State Insurance Company (SIC) to recover debts owed to SIC Life Savings and Loans, for which he received a staggering 15 percent commission on all recovered sums.
Per his own account, he recovered more than GH₵8 million for SIC, translating to a commission of at least GH₵1.2 million. Background checks on his law firm, Sarkodie Baffour Awuah & Partners, however, suggest the firm had never handled a case that paid even GH₵200,000 before this arrangement.
The deal raises significant questions, particularly given the existence of the Civil Division of the Attorney General’s Department, the structural arm responsible for protecting the state’s financial interests. When a state entity such as SIC suffers a default on a loan, the Civil Division represents the government in court to litigate and recover those funds. Yet, under the managing directorship of Amma Frimpomaa Dwumah, SIC chose to engage the private law firm of Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah—a member of the then-ruling party.
Allegations have since emerged that after Baffour Awuah received his 15 percent share, he transferred a portion of the money to Amma Frimpomaa Dwumah the same individual who, as SIC MD, had hired his law firm. From what EOCO is discovering, Dwumah used her position to offer the Manhyia South MP a sweetheart deal to retrieve the debt, then received a share of the commission on the recovered sums.
It is, as one investigator described it, a textbook example of a create-loot-and-share arrangement.
It was against this background that EOCO invited the MP twice as a person of interest after opening a criminal investigation into the matter. The first invitation, dated February 10, 2026, read: “This office is investigating allegations of financial irregularities at SIC Life Savings and Loans Company Limited and your input into the matter is of immense importance.”
The MP was requested to report to the Executive Director or his representative on Tuesday, February 17, 2026, at 10 am at EOCO’s Head Office in Accra. Out of respect for the MP, EOCO delivered the invitation confidentially. Rather than respond, the MP forwarded the letter to the Clerk of Parliament despite the fact that at the time he received the sweetheart deal, he was not an MP.
On February 27, 2026, EOCO’s Executive Director, Raymond Archer, wrote back to the MP protesting his actions and stressing that the invitation had been sent to him in his capacity as a partner of his law firm and not as an MP.
“Please take notice that any correspondence from the Clerk of Parliament on this matter will not be recognized since the Office is not aware of any established protocol or law which prevents the said person from honoring a lawful invitation. Also note that failure to honor this invitation may leave us with no choice than compel him appear before the Office.”
It was against the backdrop of this hide-and-seek game with EOCO that the Manhyia South MP was accosted by a female officer of EOCO on September 23, 2026, at the court complex in Accra, to effect his arrest. The MP had been in court as lawyer for Salomey Baffoe, the accomplice of UK-based TikTok troll Barbara Asantewaa, aka ‘Ghana Jollof.’
In response, the MP behaved rudely toward the EOCO officer, with some persons in his company physically obstructing the woman from arresting him. The encounter, captured in a video recording, shows the MP pacing and promising to drive and follow the officer to EOCO. However, rather than drive to the EOCO office, he sped away to Parliament to take sanctuary even though Parliament was on recess.
Under Rule 23 and Rule 24 of the Legal Profession (Professional Conduct and Etiquette) Rules, 2020 (L.I. 2423) of the General Legal Council, a lawyer cannot simply pocket their percentage of a recovered loan directly without strict accounting.
The required due process is that the lawyer must deposit all recovered judgment debts into a dedicated, separate Client Account. They are strictly forbidden from mixing client money with the law firm’s operational cash or personal funds. The lawyer is also legally obligated to notify the client immediately in writing as soon as the debt or any part of it is retrieved.
Before deducting the 15 percent fee, the lawyer ought to have presented a clear, itemized statement of account to the client, with the remaining 85 percent paid out to the client promptly, unless the client gives explicit written instruction otherwise.
Checks by The New Republic suggest the Manhyia South MP and his law firm did not follow these steps of proper due process after getting the sweetheart deal.
In a development that echoes the well-worn script of former New Patriotic Party (NPP) appointees caught in the glare of corruption investigations, the Manhyia South MP has retreated behind the shield of the judiciary, filing a Writ of Summons against the Member of Parliament for Akwatia, Bernard Bediako Baidoo, and broadcaster Abubakar Alhassan, popularly known as Blakk Rasta.
The suit, filed on Monday, September 28, 2026, accuses the duo of defamation and the publication of false news. But beneath the veneer of a democrat seeking redress, informed sources within the investigative corridors of the state suggest a familiar tactic at play: the silencing of whistleblowers to prevent the opening of a Pandora’s box that threatens to expose a lucrative, albeit alleged, criminal enterprise.
Mr. Awuah’s legal manoeuvre comes amid a swirling vortex of controversy surrounding the alleged detention of Madam Salomey Awiti Baffoe and Camilla Alhassan. While the MP portrays himself as a crusader for the liberty of a “poor mother of three” allegedly kidnapped by state security agents, his sudden litigious posture bears the unmistakable fingerprints of a strategy perfected by “Miracle” Aboagye.
As has become the stock in trade of former NPP appointees, the modus operandi is predictable: deny, play the victim, and attempt to gag the press until the facts become insurmountable. This is the same path trodden by Miracle Aboagye, who vehemently denied wrongdoing before eventually cowering to the truth regarding the embezzlement of funds at his former office following his arrest by EOCO.
Sources close to the investigation into the Manhyia South legislator allege that, like his predecessor in notoriety, Mr. Awuah is now quietly yielding to the reality of his situation, allegedly agreeing to take a 15 percent cut of a certain judgment debt. Investigators allege the debt was “cooked” specifically for sharing among a syndicate of insiders.
Mr. Awuah’s statement that he has “chosen the path of democrats” by avoiding criminal prosecution for false news is viewed by analysts as a pre-emptive strike. By dragging Blakk Rasta and the Akwatia MP to court, the Manhyia South MP appears to be constructing a wall of legal intimidation to deter further scrutiny into the judgment debt scandal.
“I have today filed a Writ of Summons against the underlisted persons for spewing falsehoods against my person,” Mr. Awuah stated, insisting the government is attempting to intimidate him.
However, the optics suggest a different narrative. The move to sue for defamation rather than submit to a forensic audit of the alleged judgment debt is seen as a classic diversionary tactic. It mirrors the “Miracle” template: use the courts to silence the noise while the substantive allegations of financial malfeasance fester.
While Mr. Awuah maintains his focus is on securing the release of Salomey Awiti Baffoe and Camilla Alhassan, the legal labyrinth he has entered may ultimately serve a different purpose—delaying the inevitable reckoning with the truth. As EOCO eventually proved in the Miracle Aboagye case, the truth, however delayed, has a way of bulldozing through the most carefully constructed barricades of denial.
For now, the Manhyia MP has stopped talking, choosing instead the quiet coercion of the courtroom. But as investigators close in on the alleged 15 percent “cooked” debt, it is becoming increasingly clear that this is a journey of no return.