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Press Release
NPP
29th January, 2016
No: NPP00130
TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL 2015
REPORT: NDC GOVERNMENT'S RECORD IS STILL ONE OF CREATE, LOOT
AND SHARE
The NDC government has sought to take some solace from the
2015 Transparency International report on corruption. This
attempt amounts to a fantasy, a mere fiddling while Ghana
burns from corruption and a poor attempt by President
Mahama's government to tickle itself and laugh.
One basis for the government's fantasy is that it had placed
56 out of 168 countries and placed 7th in Africa.
But the government is not able to say if these positions
amount to improvement, or not.
In 2008, Ghana ranked 67 but out of a bigger sample of 180
countries. Is 56th position out of 167 countries in 2015
better or worse than 67th position out of 180 countries in
2008?
The stark reality is that Ghana actually dropped from a
score of 48 out of 100 in 2014, to a score of 47 out of 100
in 2015.
Quite strangely, while the NDC government seeks some dubious
comfort from the report, it is at the same time attempting
to pass it off as report on perception, largely caused by
false allegations in the media and also due to some so
called "paradox of exposure". This is supposed to mean that
it is the government's great fight against corruption and
the attendant media reportage that fuels the perception that
corruption is rampant.
If the government’s fight against corruption is really
great, how can the media reports of this positive and great
fight lead to negative perception against the government?
Government also seems happy about its claim that Ghana and
Senegal have been mentioned as making progress in the fight
against corruption in Africa.
This claim is also dubious. Ghana was mentioned in terms of
increased civil society and individual’s activism in anti
corruption activities. This has nothing to do with
government. The credit for this belongs to civil activists
like Occupy Ghana and lmani Ghana and to individuals such as
Martin Amidu and Anas Aremeyaw Anas.
Government also pledges to continue to implement some
"national anti corruption action plan".
A little advice to the NDC government: just implement the
laws such as AFRCD 58,(as advised by the Attorney General),
the financial administration act, the financial
administration regulations, the law on causing financial
loss, the procurement law etc.
The poor record of the NDC government in fighting corruption
is rooted not just in perception but in stark reality.
GYEEDA, Woyome, SADA, Subah, Waterville, Smarttys, etc are
not perceptions.
The Transparency International 2015 report indicates two key
ingredients in fighting corruption: 1) Transparency and
accountability; 2) Prosecution.
The NDC government's record on these two fronts is
appalling. Major financial dealings such as loans for the
GNPC, floatation of ADB shares and the IMF loan agreement
were not taken to Parliament. Value for money audit for the
many sole sourced public works is largely not done.
Mandatory reports on public procurement to parliament are
not done.
The record on prosecution for financial wrong doing is even
worse.
Two former ministers of state in another government were
prosecuted for alleged infringement of the Procurement Law.
Ghanaians are therefore still in a state of shocked
disbelief over the twists and turns that have led to the
loss/siphoning of millions of dollars of taxpayers monies in
the Woyome affair, in the Waterville affair, in GYEEDA, in
SADA, in Subah, in Smartty's, etc.
President Mahama’s government this time will not prosecute.
Even when court orders to recover taxpayers monies are
secured through the efforts of others, the NDC government is
unable to recover the monies.
Even where the government goes into agreements for mere
refunds of taxpayers’ monies, very little refund is
reported. Massive payments of taxpayers’ monies for no work
done have been regular.
The recent bus branding saga by Smarttys limited clearly
illustrates the corruption friendly profile of President
Mahama’s NDC government.
The Attorney General's investigation into this matter, found
that the bus branding work was awarded, commenced and
completed EVEN before the procurement process was started,
and before any contract was signed; and that the sole
sourced contract resulted in over payment of nearly two
million Ghana cedis (GHC 2 million). The Attorney General
recommended further investigation of all state officials
involved in this breach of the various laws on the use of
public funds. So far, what has happened is the resignation
of the sector minister and President Mahama ordering a
refund of the excess looted taxpayers’ monies.
Indeed this profile of President Mahama’s government in
fighting corruption is aptly captured by the comments of a
member of the investigation team into the GYEEDA scandal:
"we are being robbed. We are seriously being robbed and we
need to be more radical about corruption. We brought all our
professional expertise to bear but it took forever to get
people to say we are going to act and deal with the people
and issues in the report. We sat people down and made them
recognize they were paid for services they never did and
that money should immediately come back to the state. The
agreements were such that quarterly they were supposed to be
paying certain amounts and at the end of the year, we have
just got a fraction..."
No wonder President Rawlings has concluded about the party
he founded: "60% of thieves in NDC also hold positions in
government "; and that “corruption today is no longer a
practice, but has become a pervasive culture"(May 2015).
The create, loot and share must stop.
...Signed...
Nana Akomea
(Communications Director)
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