The Commissioner for the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has said the inability of the commission to conclude investigations on some corruption cases in Ghana does not mean it has failed on its mandate.
The Commission has been criticized for failing to investigate some major corruption scandals that has hit the country.
Officials of CHRAJ say they are unable to do their work because they are financially resourced.
Some of the corruption scandals include; the unlawful payment of GHC 51 million to businessman Alfred Woyome, the payment of GHC 144 million to Subah Info Solution by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), fraudulent deals under the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA) among others.
A section of the general public has expressed worry over the inability of CHRAJ to undertake its duties with some blaming the government for refusing to release funds allocated to the Commission.
[contextly_sidebar id=”X2zHMcIEoDrHFAXtHVUIsTP3KDRndtCT”]CHRAJ has on several occasions appealed to the government to adequately resource anti-corruption agencies to assist them in the fight against corruption.
The commission also noted that its officials are unable to investigate and prosecute persons engaged in corrupt acts because Ghanaians are unable to substantiate claims of corruption.
Some human rights watchers and analysts have subsequently called for CHRAJ boss’ dismissal for they describe as “her failure to protect Ghanaians in their duties.“
But on Tuesday, the CHRAJ boss, Lauretta Lamptey was accused of spending thousands of dollars on her accommodation alone.
She however defended the spending stating that her official residence has been under renovation for the past three years.
Speaking to Citi News, Ms Lamptey said their core mandate is centered on human right issues therefore; the public should not draw hasty conclusions on their inability to investigate cases.
According to her, the commission does not “publicize things, we simply do our work…but the biggest problem I think is that…95% of our activities on our cases under our human rights mandate.”
Ms Lamptey explained that the remaining five percent makes up the administrative justice cases and corruption cases “so if you investigate and successfully complete 12,000 complaints in human rights in a year and 80% are resolved, it’s a very, very high success rate.”
By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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