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Assets declaration can help stem corruption - State
Attorney
Cape Coast, Sept. 14, GNA - A Principal State Attorney has
asked all public officials to declare their assets as
required by law as a means of enhancing transparency and
accountability towards strengthening the country's democracy
and governance.
Mr Anthony Rexford Wiredu, Principal State Attorney in the
Central Region, said public officials were expected to
exhibit self-discipline in the discharge of their duties and
also to support the work of agencies set up to ensure
accountability and good governance.
He was opening a two-day workshop on the theme: "Fighting
corruption - An Agenda for Democracy and Good Governance",
at the University of Cape Coast (UCC) on Thursday.
The workshop was organised by the Ghana Integrity Initiative
(GII) in collaboration with the Regional Secretariat of the
National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE).
The participants, who include heads of departments and
assembly members, discussed factors that bred corruption and
which were affecting the development of the nation.
The Principal State Attorney pointed out that the fight
against corruption must be backed by "political will and
genuine determination" and expressed concern that Government
officials had not shown the requisite commitment and queried
how many of them had declared their assets since the passage
of the law.
Opening the workshop, Right Reverend Isaac Quansah, Bishop
of Cape Coast Diocese of the Methodist Church, pointed out
that bribery and corruption were not only in the domain of
the public sector, but the private sector was equally prone
to corruption.
He noted that corruption, among other things, bred poverty
and deprived the people of their rights to ownership to
property; retarded socio-economic development since
resources were not fully utilized but diverted for the
individual to use.
He said in order to help to ensure zero tolerance for
corruption, there was the need to institutionalize
transparency in the management of public administration,
create external transparency through public access to
government information and enhance transparency in policy
making, such as the use of public consultation.
Right Rev. Quansah called on the media to expose and report
the abuse and arbitrary use of discretion of the monopoly of
the government. He urged the government to embrace
independent journalists as vital part of their communication
strategies for combating corruption.
He also tasked the media to also endeavour to be accountable
and set its own code of ethics so that it would not be
captured by "private interest or government power".
Rt. Rev. Quansah warned that good governance would be a mere
slogan if corruption reigned supreme and tasked all
peace-loving Ghanaians, nongovernmental organisations and
religious institutions to support the fight against the
canker.
He urged the Government to support and resource adequately
Commission on Human Rights Administrative Justice (CHRAJ);
Serious Fraud Office (SFO), the Attorney-General's
Department and the Electoral Commission to enable them to
discharge their duties effectively.
Mr Vitus Azeem, Executive Secretary of the GII, observed
that there was no single or straight forward answer to how
to curb corruption, but said legislative and institutional
reforms were necessary to curb grand corruption.
According to him, there was the need to enact transparency
enhancing legislation, such as the Freedom of Information
Law, which was long overdue, as well as amend the oath of
secrecy to promote a culture of transparency and
accountability.
He suggested the review of the current asset declaration act
to ensure that disclosures were verified and compliance
enforced.
He accused the government of closing its ears to complaints
of corruption among public officials, citing acquisition of
property; misappropriation of funds for the Ghana@50
celebration, and called on Parliament to institute as a
matter of urgency a bi-partisan investigation into each
account.
Mr Azeem stressed the determination of GII to make Ghana a
corruption-free country, and asked the participants to make
the requisite inputs towards achieving these objectives.
In a welcoming address, the Regional Director of NCCE, Mr
Frank Adoba deplored the extent of corrupt practices and
criminal activities being perpetrated by the youth and
expressed concern that those engaged in such acts were
between the ages of 18 years and 35 years.
According to him, the tendency to mix both hardened
criminals and those convicted for civil offences in the
prisons had made prisons "Academy of Armed Robbers" and
appealed to the authorities to ensure the separation of the
two groups of prisoners.
He also called for the equipping of youth training centres
to provide employable skills for the youth as well as to
enhance their access to information and noted that bringing
the public abreast to national issues should not only be
done during people's assemblies.
According to him, the NCCE and other relevant institutions
in the field of awareness creation should be strengthened to
enable them to make it a continuous process.
GNA
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