The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), has welcomed moves by Parliament to enact new laws to help fight corruption in the country.
On Thursday, the House adopted a National Anti-Corruption Action Plan to guide national discourse on corruption.
This was after the Member of Parliament (MP) for Offinso South; Ben Abdullah Bandah moved a motion lamenting the ineffectiveness of the various anti-corruption legislations guiding the fight against corruption.
A Deputy Commissioner of CHRAJ, Joseph Whittal, told Citi News, Ghana must adopt new laws which can help fight the canker.
He explained that the definition of corruption has over the years been limited to only bribery, but presently, what passes for corruption in Ghana has drastically changed; therefore, there is the need to get “the law to catch up with what has been happening.”
The new law according to him apportions particular roles to specific institutions both in the public and private sectors including Civil Society Organizations (CSOs).
The roles determine “what we can concretely do and going beyond the rhetoric, what can we do year in, year out measurably” to curb the increasing cases of corruption.
Ghana has been burdened with cases of corruption in the various sectors of the economy, with some of the cases currently in court.
Some of the major corruption scandals which have hit the country are the payment of GHC 51 million to businessman Alfred Woyome, the payment of GHC 144 million to Subah Info-Solution by the Ghana Revenue Authority, contracts awarded to certain individuals under dubious circumstances, under the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA), and the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) which caused financial loss to the state.
Some persons who were fingered in these scandals are currently facing prosecution but Ghanaians have grown impatient with the slow pace at which the cases are proceeding.
By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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