The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) Consortium has asked President Mahama to immediately appoint substantive heads for the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), and the Petroleum Commission.
According to the Consortium, which is made up of the GII, the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC), and Send Ghana, the lack of substantive heads for these critical anti-corruption institutions thwarts the fight against corruption.
Speaking to Citi News’ Sixtus Dong Ullo on the sidelines of an experience-sharing meeting, a member of the Consortium, Dr. Steve Manteaw, charged President Mahama to demonstrate his administration’s commitment to fighting the canker by appointing substantive heads for the various institutions.
“…Keeping the heads of such institutions in an acting position for a very long time, incapacitates their ability to take certain decisions especially when the government of the day is complacent. I discovered to my dismay that head of EOCO is in an active position, head of CHRAJ is in active position, head of NCCE is in an acting position.
“These are all key institutions that are in the frontline in our efforts to stem corruption from the society. The authority that can confirm them is the presidency and so there is no way that you can bring an action indicting the presidency or any member of the Executive and you can get the Heads of this institution acting boldly because in that process they will be jeopardizing their chances of being confirmed,”he argued.
Review appointment procedure
Dr. Steve Manteaw further called for a review of the procedure used in appointing authority heads for such anti-graft bodies.
He argued that the power to appoint should rather be vested in the Public Services Commission and not political authorities.
“Any political authority that has the power to appoint will appoint people who will work in their interest. Nobody in his right senses will appoint people who will work against their interest and it is precisely the reason we should not politicize these positions but rather subject them to the public services commission so that appointments are made on the basis of merit and competence.”
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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana