Renowned Ghanaian lawyer Tsatsu Tsikata has revealed that he harbours no bitterness towards individuals involved in his imprisonment during the administration of former President John Agyekum Kufuor.
He made the disclosure at the UPSA Law School Honorific Lecture and Awards Ceremony held in Accra on Wednesday, April 15, 2026, under the theme “Celebrating the Lifetime Achievements of Lawyer Tsatsu Tsikata.”
Reflecting on his ordeal, Mr Tsikata said he has consciously chosen to let go of resentment despite the circumstances surrounding his incarceration.
“By God’s grace, I have never harboured any grudges or felt bitterness against any of those who were involved in all that happened to me during the Kufuor regime,” he stated.
He stressed, however, that he would not wish such an experience on anyone, regardless of political affiliation.
“However, I do not wish such a desecration of justice as I experienced on anyone, no matter their political affiliation. I do not want to hear of the police going to a church on Sunday to arrest anyone,” he added.
Mr Tsikata’s imprisonment followed a high-profile legal battle that ignited national debate on justice, the rule of law, and governance in Ghana.
A former Chief Executive of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Mr Tsikata was convicted in 2008 on charges of causing financial loss to the state during the Kufuor administration. The case stemmed from a loan guarantee he authorised in the 1990s involving a private company that later defaulted on its obligations.
While prosecutors argued that his actions resulted in financial loss to the state, his defence maintained that the decision was taken in the national interest and within his mandate.
He was subsequently sentenced to five years’ imprisonment by an Accra Fast Track High Court. The case drew significant local and international attention, with critics describing the trial as politically motivated, particularly in the context of a change in government. Others, however, viewed it as a demonstration of accountability in public office.
Mr Tsikata served part of his sentence at the Nsawam Medium Security Prison before being granted a presidential pardon in 2009 by the late former President John Evans Atta Mills.
In 2010, the Supreme Court of Ghana quashed his conviction, ruling that the trial had been flawed and amounted to a miscarriage of justice—effectively clearing him of wrongdoing.
The case remains one of Ghana’s most widely discussed legal and political episodes, often cited in conversations about the intersection of law, governance, and political transitions.
