Zhang’s personal assets will be confiscated, according to the Intermediate People’s Court of Linfen City in Shanxi.

The former official offered help in the approval of projects and the obtaining of coal resources from 1997 to 2013, when he served as the Zhongyang County chief and later the vice mayor of Luliang City. In exchange he received cash and property worth a total of 1.04 billion yuan, Xinhua reported

He couldn’t name the source of assets valuing 130 million yuan, blatantly ignored laws and was “extremely greedy.” His crimes caused “huge losses to the country and its people,” the court said, according to Xinhua.

–

Source: SHINE

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Abuga Pele, the former National Coordinator of the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Agency (GYEEDA), was sentenced alongside the Chief Executive Officer of Goodwill International Group, Philip Assibit, to a combined jail-term of 18 years on various counts, including willfully causing financial loss to the state.

[contextly_sidebar id=”q3ZiiK8QdvQcAWXG72W3mIHsssiJPQPm”]In the scandal that hit the now Youth Employment Agency (YEA), some companies including Zoomlion Ghana Limited, RLG, Asongtaba Cottage Industry Limited and Better Ghana Management Services Limited, among others were contracted to render services under various modules for the GYEEDA programme.

It subsequently emerged that monies were paid to these companies who were awarded the contracts through sole sourcing for no work done.

Speaking on Citi FM’s News Analysis Programme, The Big Issue, Mr. Ayariga said the awarding of all contracts through competitive bidding processes will tackle the canker associated with sole sourcing.

“President Akufo Addo is against sole sourcing. He campaigned against sole sourcing but reducing sole sourcing is not enough. I think we should abolish it entirely,” he indicated.

Ayariga threatens suit

Mr. Ayariga, on the show, also indicated that he will next week start a chain of events that may result in an injunction at the Supreme Court against the operations of a number of state agencies.

Mr. Ayariga has said he will move against every state agency exercising “unfettered discretionary power without clear non-discriminatory non-arbitrary regulations approved by Parliament governing the exercises of their discretionary power.”

He asserted that all these agencies must provide a road map to close all these loopholes or face being dragged to the Supreme Court.

“I shall in the coming week write to each and every agency of government concerned and demand that the regulations be brought to Parliament within 30 days otherwise I will proceed to the Supreme Court to seek an injunction against all that they are doing in violates of the law.”

‘Jail-term’

Abuga Pele was handed a four and six-year sentence which will run concurrently, meaning he will spend six years behind bars.

Assibit, on the other hand, got sentences of 12 and four years on different counts, also to run concurrently, meaning he will be in jail for twelve years.

The court also ordered the state to recover all assets and money belonging to the state from the convicts.

Delivering her judgment, Justice Efia Serwaa Botwe said the prosecution succeeded in proving their case by producing enough evidence.

She also added that the defence and the accused person, on whom a lot burden of proof was laid, failed to prove their innocence in the matter.

–

By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah

The post Ayariga wants sole sourcing scrapped after Pele, Assibit’s incarceration appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Ghana Police Service has often ranked top of corruption perception lists in the country, with many Ghanaians often expressing their belief that police officers are corrupt.

However, speaking on Point Blank on Eyewitness News, Mr. Quantson believes that the public cannot be completely absolved of blame in the perception of corruption within the Police Service.

According to him, citizens create an enabling environment for police officers to be corrupt by continuously offering bribes to them whenever they commit crimes.

“Who polices the police? It’s the people. So, if the people have wrong attitudes, how are they going to police the police to make them efficient and competent. Often, when I hear that the police are corrupt, I laugh. The police can only be corrupt in a corrupt environment. If the society isn’t corrupt there’s no way the Police can be corrupt. I’m not saying the Police aren’t corrupt but who gives them the [bribes]?” he asked.

“There’s a question of attitudes; if the attitude is wrong on the part of the citizens, the police will get it wrong as well. Elsewhere in the world, if the Police stop you and ask for your license, your first reaction is not to put money in the wallet and give it to the police. The public is part of part of the corruptible system and it’s not just the police, customs, immigration; wherever services are rendered and people haven’t got the right attitudes of resisting criminalities, they become the pushers.”

He added that Ghanaians who give bribes to the police to escape punishment for even the minor offences have no moral right to complain about corruption within the police service when they continue to perpetuate the crimes.

“If the public is policing the police and exposing corruption in the system, they will be inconvenienced. The public attitude must be paramount not to enhance corruption and the Police will abide. If you give in meekly, they will be emboldened to frustrate you.”

The prevalence of corruption in the country has come under the spotlight in recent days following the release of the Corruption Perception Index which indicated that Ghana had dropped 11 places from he 2016 ranking to place 81 out of 180 countries in the 2017 report.

The Index, put together by Transparency International ranks countries annually by their perceived levels of corruption as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys.
Ghana’s mark out of a total of hundred was 40 down from 43, which the country attained in the last index.

‘Wrong mindset’

Mr. Quatson also attributed the failure to completely root out corruption in the Ghanaian society to the attitudes of the general populace to criminality.

According to him, corruption can only persist if there’s unwillingness from the people within the society to address criminality within their communities.

He stated that despite the number of successes that have been chalked in the fight against corruption, completely eradicating it from the society requires a change in the mindsets of Ghanaians towards criminality.

“Some progress has been achieved but there’s still a lot to be done. It’s rooted in the attitudes of the people towards crime. If the people’s attitudes are wrong about crime and they think that criminality pays, no matter what you do they won’t love you. The best scenario is when you have majority of the people in the country being law-abiding, that way there’ll be a small number who aren’t law-abiding so the law enforcement agencies can deal with them,” he said on Eyewitness News.

“When majority of people are involved in criminality, there’s a problem for law enforcement. The crucial help you should get from the people doesn’t come. Fighting criminality is a question of intelligence and that comes from people. So, if the people’s attitudes are wrong about criminality, you won’t get the information you require.”

–

By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post ‘Our society breeds corrupt police officers’ – K.B Quantson appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to him, corruption can only persist if there’s unwillingness from the people within the society to address criminality within their communities.

[contextly_sidebar id=”bUkLkLWurM4Hxwv8V1POMK5t1PY7vlkD”]He stated that despite the number of successes that have been chalked in the fight against corruption, completely eradicating it from the society requires a change in the mindsets of Ghanaians towards criminality.

“Some progress has been achieved but there’s still a lot to be done. It’s rooted in the attitudes of the people towards crime. If the people’s attitudes are wrong about crime and they think that criminality pays, no matter what you do they won’t love you. The best scenario is when you have majority of the people in the country being law-abiding, that way there’ll be a small number who aren’t law-abiding so the law enforcement agencies can deal with them,” he said on Eyewitness News.

“When majority of people are involved in criminality, there’s a problem for law enforcement. The crucial help you should get from the people doesn’t come. Fighting criminality is a question of intelligence and that comes from people. So, if the people’s attitudes are wrong about criminality, you won’t get the information you require.”

Society makes police corrupt

The Ghana Police Service has often ranked top of corruption perception lists in the country, with many Ghanaians often expressing their belief that police officers are corrupt.

However, Mr. Quantson believes that the public cannot be completely absolved of blame in the perception of corruption within the Police Service.

According to him, citizens create an enabling environment for police officers to be corrupt by continuously offering bribes to them whenever they commit crimes.

“Who polices the police? It’s the people. So, if the people have wrong attitudes, how are they going to police the police to make them efficient and competent. Often, when I hear that the police are corrupt, I laugh. The police can only be corrupt in a corrupt environment. If the society isn’t corrupt there’s no way the Police can be corrupt. I’m not saying the Police aren’t corrupt but who gives them the [bribes]?” he asked.

“There’s a question of attitudes; if the attitude is wrong on the part of the citizens, the police will get it wrong as well. Elsewhere in the world, if the Police stop you and ask for your license, your first reaction is not to put money in the wallet and give it to the police. The public is part of part of the corruptible system and it’s not just the police, customs, immigration; wherever services are rendered and people haven’t got the right attitudes of resisting criminalities, they become the pushers.”

He added that Ghanaians who give bribes to the police to escape punishment for even the minor offences have no moral right to complain about corruption within the police service when they continue to perpetuate the crimes.

“If the public is policing the police and exposing corruption in the system, they will be inconvenienced. The public attitude must be paramount not to enhance corruption and the Police will abide. If you give in meekly, they will be emboldened to frustrate you.”

The prevalence of corruption in the country has come under the spotlight in recent days following the release of the Corruption Perception Index which indicated that Ghana had dropped 11 places from he 2016 ranking to place 81 out of 180 countries in the 2017 report.

The Index, put together by Transparency International ranks countries annually by their perceived levels of corruption as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys.

Ghana’s mark out of a total of hundred was 40 down from 43, which the country attained in the last index.

Special Prosecutor to the rescue

Despite the drop in the rankings, Ghanaians have become more optimistic about the fight against corruption following the creation of the Special Prosecutor’s Office and the appointment of Martin Amidu as the country’s first Special Prosecutor.

Amidu was sworn in on Friday amidst high expectations from most Ghanaians that the outspoken anti-graft campaigner would provide a much-needed focal point for the fight against corruption

–

By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Wrong mindset about crime hampering corruption fight – K.B Quantson appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

“I have given Mr. President my word of honour that I will discharge the duties of the burdensome you have entrusted to my care with similar integrity and honour with your support. Mr. President, I want to assure you that the propaganda about witch-hunting will not daunt me from prosecuting all corruption crimes without reference to political considerations…I will treat crime as crime and nothing else,” he assured.

Mr. Amidu gave the assurance today, Friday, February 23, 2018, when he was sworn into office as Ghana’s first Special Prosecutor by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at the Flagstaff House.

On the case at the Supreme Court challenging his eligibility for the position because of his age, the Special Prosecutor said he has not received any lawsuit to that effect, hence nothing bars him from accepting the job he described as “burdensome.”

“I wish the public to know that nobody has served me personally with any writ or statement of case or injunction challenging my nomination, approval and appointment so as to restrain me from accepting this appointment,” he added.

Martin Amidu was vetted by the Appointments Committee on February 15, 2018; an assessment exercise that lasted over 7 hours.

Mr. Amidu’s public vetting has received widespread commendation as many stakeholders believe he performed creditably.

The Appointments Committee also unanimously recommended his confirmation moments after its grueling 7-hour public hearing exercise.

He was subsequently approved by Parliament last Tuesday.

A day before the vetting a suit was filed at the Supreme Court by Deputy Minority Ranking Member on Constitutional Affairs, Dr. Dominic Ayine, who is seeking a declaration that Mr. Amidu, who is 66-years-old, cannot hold public office because he has exceeded the mandated age limit per the 1992 constitution.

Again, Dr. Ayine prior to Mr. Amidu’s approval in Parliament on Tuesday further asked the law making body to put the process on hold, as his suit is still pending at the Supreme Court.

But his call was ignored by the Speaker of Parliament.

About Martin Amidu

Martin A. B. K. Amidu was the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice from January 2011 till January 2012 under the late President John Evans Atta-Mills.

Amidu, a member of the NDC, served as the Deputy Attorney-General for about the last four years of the Provisional National Defence Council military government.

After civilian rule was established in the Fourth Republic in January 1993, he continued to serve in the government of Jerry Rawlings as Deputy Attorney-General. This he did for both terms lasting eight years until January 2001.

In the December 2000 presidential elections, he stood as the running mate of John Atta Mills. They both however lost to President John Kufuor that year.

In January 2010, following a cabinet reshuffle, President Mills replaced Cletus Avoka with Martin Amidu as the Minister for Interior. As Amidu is a Builsa, some people raised questions as to his neutrality in dealing with the Bawku conflict. He, however, went successfully through vetting by the Parliament of Ghana and has since assumed his post.

Following the second major cabinet reshuffle by President Mills, Amidu became the Attorney general and Minister for Justice of Ghana.

–

By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post ‘Witch-hunting propaganda won’t stop me’ – Amidu appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The government’s Spokesperson on Governance and Legal Affairs, Herbert Krapa, explained that the report was not an indication that the current New Patriotic Party [NPP] government was corrupt.

[contextly_sidebar id=”WpWDfux8fZXe1T53rHNDXHtvFMej6w1p”]Ghana dropped 11 places from the 2016 ranking to place 81 out of 180 countries in the 2017 Corruption Perception index.

Ghana’s mark out of a total of 100 was 40, down from 43, which the country attained in the 2016 index.

In an interview with Citi News, Mr. Krapa referenced the Ghana Integrity Initiative’s (GII) technical report, which shows that corruption perception for a given year takes into account two years.

This would mean that the 2017 corruption index also covered 2016, where there was a lack of will to tackle corruption from the Mahama government, according to Mr. Krapa.

“When you look at the technical report which GII added, such that it is a period of two years in which the perception is compiled, when you look at 2016, in that year, you know all the corruption allegations that came to the fore: the bus branding saga, Ghana Standards Authority, NCA [National Communications Authority], Electoral Commission allegations and a host of them that the [Mahama] government did not show any commitment to fighting revelations and scandals that had been made public.”

Mr. Krapa further assured that the Akufo-Addo administration was committed to fighting corruption with all the seriousness.

“Now the perception would be that the current administration has done very little to fight the corruption that the John Mahama administration is said to have supervised. I can assure that whatever report, whatever these exposes… would have exposed and made clear that corruption was particularly present, all of them would be prosecuted and the law courts would determine whether there was actual corruption or not.”

What the GII report said

The GII noted that Ghana’s score of 40 points was likely a reflection of the insufficient investigations, prosecutions and sanctioning of corrupt acts, per data sources from 2016.

“It is important to remind ourselves of the plethora of corruption exposés during the period in question which might have influenced the perception of the respondents to the surveys as well as the business experts – examples include the 2016 election-related corruption issues, Bus Branding scandal, Ghana Standards Authority $1.2m Corruption Scandal, Central Medical Stores Arson Saga, National Lottery Authority bribery and numerous adverse findings in annual Audit Reports on the Public Sector,” the statement accompanying the current index stated.

Ghana’s past performance

The report, put together by Transparency International, ranks countries annually by their perceived levels of corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys.

In the 2016 Corruption Perception Index ranking, Ghana dropped four percentage points, scoring 43 out of a clean score of 100.

In 2015, Ghana improved slightly on 2014 with a rank of 56 out of 168 countries and a score of 47.

Thus, Ghana slid back by one percentage point from the 48 points scored in 2014.

–

By: Naa Shika Caesar & Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Corruption ranking covered corruption cases under Mahama – Gov’t appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

“There is no need for any citizen to go into exile as some are alleged to have done, or to contemplate or fear my approval and pending appointment as Special Prosecutor, so long as that citizen has not seriously violated any law worth investigating or prosecuting in the national interest under my remit,” Amidu said in his latest write-up.

According to him, his job is to protect the 1992 Constitution which includes protection “from capricious exercise of discretion and I will ensure strict compliance with the letter and spirit of the 1992 Constitution in protecting the citizen’s rights and as well as any abuse of the public purse.”

[contextly_sidebar id=”7BzLZ4qAOLo3bIJqQfJU4oBBYMpWNd20″]Martin Amidu was vetted by the Appointments Committee on February 15, 2018; an assessment exercise that lasted over 7 hours.

Mr. Amidu’s public vetting received widespread commendation as many stakeholders believed he performed creditably, and he has since been approved by Parliament as the nation’s first Special Prosecutor.

Already some suggestions have been made to the Special Prosecutor as to which corruption issues he should tackle first.

President of policy think tank, IMANI Africa advised Amidu focus on plugging the leakages in the revenue of government machinery.

“…If we are looking at the office of the government machinery for instance in the last 12 years, you would see consistently that it has been the most wasteful and actually the source of corruption as well. That is why we are saying that if you want to fight corruption, let’s start from the office of government machinery because they put up all these portfolio of agencies that are duplicatory and not needed,” he added on Citi FM’s news analysis programme, The Big Issue last Saturday.

A private legal practitioner, Martin Kpebu also called on Mr. Amidu to probe the Smarttys Bus Branding and the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Agency (GYEEDA).

Mr. Kpebu has advised the Special Prosecutor to start from those cases because “there is an abundance of evidence or sufficient evidence to prosecute.”

Below is the Mr. Amidu’s recent epistle:

My parting thoughts as citizen vigilante

The right to criticize a fellow citizen, however vigorous, cannot be defamatory of that citizen or even in contempt of court when it is kept within the limits of reasonable courtesy and good faith. As Lord Justice Salmon said in R v Metropolitan Police Commissioner; Ex Parte Blackburn at pages 155-156:

“…The criticism here complained of, however rumbustious, however wide the mark, whether expressed in good taste or in bad taste, seems to me to be well within limits.”

It is in this spirit that I have taken comments and criticism arising from my responses to the Appointments Committee of Parliament at my approval public hearing on 13th February 2018. Since I met the President on 9th January 2018 for a nomination confirmation discussion and accepted the potential nomination for consideration for approval by Parliament, I considered myself a potential public servant and stopped my citizen’s constitutional defence activism under Article 3 of the Constitution by not responding to unconstitutional comments and criticisms about my constitutionally mandated activities. As I put it at my approval public hearing, the nomination gagged me from speaking or writing in the press as a private citizen would.

From the moment I take my oath of office, I will be a quasi-judicial officer enjoined to act impartially and independently in the execution of my duties. My voluntary acceptance to be appointed Special Prosecutor imposes upon me strict compliance with the Code of Conduct and Ethics of the legal profession in which I am viewed as an officer of the court, whether in or outside the court room while I remain in office. In view of my acceptance, there will of necessity be a change in the way I will exercise the plentitude of my cherished rights as a citizen in accordance with Article 3 of the Constitution.

Before then I wish to say my response at my approval public hearing that some of my articles are based on my perceptions and opinions does not mean that they were not based on fact or reality. An in-depth acquaintance with the Philosophy and Methods of Research will show that perceptions and opinions need not be based on conjecture or non-facts or illusion. Those learned in research methods and intelligence know that my answers were intended for the protection of my sources and collection methods giving rise to the conclusions I arrived at in my several articles on corruption and abuse of power for private gain.

Article 3 of the 1992 Constitution would be hopeless if constitutional activists could not protect their sources and collection methods of information disclosing breaches of the Constitution and suspected commission of crime, and in particular corruption offences. I could not have given facts of corruption allegations in my articles to a partisan questioner without revealing or naming my informants and other sources and collection methods as a Citizen Vigilante.

Safeguards in the rule of law enable investigators and prosecutors to use intelligence and sensitive law enforcement information as evidence, in a manner that protects sources and collection methods and that maintains the suspect’s right to a fair trial. In the protection of my sources and collection methods as Citizen Vigilante under Article 3 of the Constitution, I used the words “perceptions” and “opinions” to stand for the intelligence acquired from my sources and collection methods; my perceptions and opinions were formed from real human sources and other real collection methods and therefore could not have been based on conjecture.

I am writing these parting thoughts because the hearing was widely publicized, and many viewers and readers may not be well versed in the philosophy of research, research methodology, security and intelligence studies, and conflict resolution studies. It is therefore important to dispel in the matter of the debate whether perceptions and opinions are necessarily based on only speculation, or illusion or non-reality or non-fact.

These parting thoughts are in recognition of the fact that as a quasi-judicial officer, after my appointment I will have to behave as a justice of the superior court will do and will henceforth be unable to answer to several unfounded criticisms. I would have to adhere to the admonition of Lord Atkin in delivering the judgment of the court in Ambard v Attorney General [1936] AC 322 when he stated at page 335 that:

“The path of criticism is a public way: the wrong headed are permitted to err therein: provided that members of the public abstain from imputing motives to those taking part in the administration of justice… Justice is a cloistered virtue: she must be allowed to suffer the scrutiny and respectful, even though outspoken, comments of ordinary men.”

I will also live by the dictum of Lord Denning in R v Metropolitan Police Commissioner; Ex parte Blackburn (N0 2) [1968] 2 QB 150 at 155 where he said:

“It is the right of every man, in Parliament or out of it, in the Press or over broadcast, to make fair comment, even outspoken comment, on matters of public interest. Those who comment can deal faithfully with all that is done in a court of justice. They can say that we are mistaken, and our decisions are erroneous, whether they are subject to appeal or not. All we would ask is that those who criticize us will remember that, from the nature of our office, we cannot reply to their criticisms. We cannot enter into public controversy. Still less into political controversy. We must rely on our conduct itself to be its own vindication.

Exposed as we are to the winds of criticism, nothing which is said by this person or that, nothing which is written by this pen or that, will deter us from doing what we believe is right; nor, I would add, from saying what the occasion requires, provided that it is pertinent to the matter in hand. Silence is not an option when things are ill done.” (For the words “a court of justice” substitute the words “the Office of the Special Prosecutor”.)

There is no need for any citizen to go into exile as some are alleged to have done, or to contemplate or fear my approval and pending appointment as Special Prosecutor, so long as that citizen has not seriously violated any law worth investigating or prosecuting in the national interest under my remit. The 1992 Constitution protects every citizen from capricious exercise of discretion and I will ensure strict compliance with the letter and spirit of the 1992 Constitution in protecting the citizen’s rights and as well as any abuse of the public purse.

Author: Martin A. B. K. Amidu

–

By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Don’t run away if you are not corrupt – Martin Amidu appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

“…If we are looking at the office of the government machinery for instance in the last 12 years, you would see consistently that it has been the most wasteful and actually the source of corruption as well. That is why we are saying that if you want to fight corruption, let’s start from the office of government machinery because they put up all these portfolio of agencies that are duplicatory and not needed,” he added.

[contextly_sidebar id=”20ea9K28krKpbe5mFWeBZSK249szWoiz”]Mr. Cudjoe made the remark on Citi FM’s news analysis programme The Big Issue on Saturday during discussions on the vetting of Mr. Amidu last Tuesday.

The vetting, which lasted more than seven hours saw members of Parliament’s Appointment Committee quiz Mr. Amidu his plans for the Special Prosecutor’s Office and how he intends to carry out his mandate of fighting corruption.

Although Mr. Cudjoe said he is not alleging corruption within the government machinery, he said there have been several instances of wastages in the system, thus warranting his call.

“I’m just saying that the root causes of corruption lie within the political establishments that we’ve created for ourselves. We’ve always said that there are…a lot of examples of how odious expenses are made all from government machinery for instance. Look at the instance of the Ministry for Special Development Initiatives trying to create a website for close to $200,000. These are not necessarily stealing, but it is attempted waste and somehow attempting to waste and actual stealing may be the same,” he said on.

‘Turn up heat on Procurement Ministry too’

The IMANI Africa boss also called for the establishment of a special department under the Special Prosecutor’s Office which will be in charge of interrogating the cost of projects that come to the Procurement Ministry and the Public Procurement Authority to ensure that such projects are value for money.

He suggested that a special commissioner could be appointed to head that department in order to assist the Special Prosecutor to protect the public purse.

“The office must have some commissioner of sorts who can do proper due diligence on projects and they should start with the Procurement Ministry and the Public Procurement Authority,” he added.

‘Be wary of political mafias’

A private lawyer, Dr. Rainer Akumperigya, who also spoke on The Big Issue, charged Mr. Amidu to brace himself to face stiff opposition from persons with political and economic interests within and outside government.

Dr. Akumperigya explained that Amidu’s task will be a tough one since Ghana’s democracy itself is built on what he termed as “corrupt proceeds.”

“Martin cannot be naïve to think that no one will interfere with his office. He will be tempted. If you look at it from 1992, our Constitutional and multiparty democracy system have been built on corrupt proceeds, most of the party activities especially during general elections, where you require massive resources, where do such resources come from? If we want to be sincere with ourselves the system itself has been based and financed by pieces of corruption. So he is an individual, he now has the singular opportunity; he’s done it in the past as an individual now he is a public officer. He has to fight this, but he has to be aware that all the political actors and economic interests that prevailed prior to his appointment still prevail,” the lawyer added.

Parliament to approve Amidu on Tuesday

Meanwhile, Parliament will consider the report of the Appointments Committee on the nomination of Martin Amidu as Special Prosecutor on Tuesday, February 20, 2018.

According to the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, they may either approve Amidu that same day or defer it to the following day.

–

By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Amidu must deal with leakages in gov’t expenditure – IMANI Boss appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

His recommended institutions are ones that have the capacity to deal with both the privileged and the under-privileged in order to get rid of all cankers we are struggling with.

Publicly forcing Jacob Zuma to resign as the President of South Africa is definitely not the right way of hunting out corruption effectively. This approach, I believe is rather encouraging others to aspire to be more corrupt since they will always have the option of resigning and going scot-free regardless of the financial losses they may have caused the state.

Elsewhere, people resign from their positions on the dictates of their conscience and subsequently apologize for wrongdoing. Notwithstanding their apologies, they are held before the law if they are found guilty of any of those. From his speech, it is clear that Zuma never resigned because of the heap of allegations against him. Rather, for the sake of peace in South Africa.

It is tempting to assume that kicking Zuma out of the presidency is worth it and South Africans must be okay. Yes, politically it is important for the ANC because getting him out will help clean the slate to enable them win the 2019 elections. For me, the longer-term damage of presidents resigning from office with impunity is in my view very much incalculable.

No good comes of Zuma’s resignation if there are no laws to deal with him as a private citizen now that he is out of office. Since there is no deterrent to prevent other presidents from following Zuma’s catastrophic example, knowing well that at the end he has gotten everything he wanted including the title, “His Excellency, Former President ………”

Cracking down on corruption without any clear intention to hold a resigned Zuma and subsequent presidents who misconduct themselves accountable could suggest that once elected president, one is immune from the law, despite the South African Constitution’s provision that “all are equal before the law”.

It is time African countries made laws that can bite hard at presidents who rape the coffers of their states and misconduct themselves. These laws must be accompanied by institutions that will implement them effectively and yield good results for the interest of the public.

I agree that presidents and their deputies must be accorded some privileges, but those privileges must not be inclusive of corruption. If they are involved in bribery and corruption, the option must not be the public forcing them to resign. Rather, they must be made to pay the monies they may have stolen to the nation with calculated interests.

This will certainly serve as a deterrent to others who aspire to occupy the seat of the presidency.

The euphoria among many on the heels of Zuma’s resignation is totally okay. But it is unfortunate to only rejoice over the present without raising our heads up to look at what is ahead. In countries like Brazil and the Republic of Korea, there are laws and effective institutions that hand down criminal inquiries and even prison sentences to deserving presidents and prime ministers who engage in bribery and corruption, abuse of power, coercion and disclosures of confidential information.

In South Korea for instance, aside the immediate past president who has been made to face the laws after her impeachment, two other former leaders, Chun Doo-hwan and his successor, Roh Tae-woo, were charged in the mid-1990s after they left office and it had been legally established that they improperly collected millions of dollars from businesses during their tenures.

Going forward, the South African public and the entire African populace must not only be loud in calling for presidents to resign but must also be insistent on the enactment of laws and the establishment of strong institutions that will deal with the likes of Zuma who are suspected of misconducts.

As a people, we Africans must learn lessons from countries like Brazil, South Korea and others that have systems in place to deal with top-hierarchies that engage in corrupt practices. Until then, the Zuma exit comes with no important lessons to other corrupt leaders in Africa.

–

By: Ebenezer Azamati/citifmonline.com/Ghana
The Author is a student of International Politics at School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

The post Forcing out Jacob Zuma; a lazy approach to corruption fight [Article] appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

He said this at his vetting today [Tuesday], by Parliament’s Appointments Committee for the position of Special Prosecutor.

[contextly_sidebar id=”HjC9ogTz8Vadm0m2xiQERAcSK9URFdzx”]He made the comment when he was asked by the National Democratic Congress’ Tamale North Constituency MP, Alhassan Suhuyini, about the number of apology letters he had to write because he supposedly offended the late President Mills in 2012 when he was the Attorney General.

“I have lived with decent people in harmony for 66 years, but I cannot live in harmony with criminals,” he said.

He also noted that, the way in which he was asked to write the letter was not totally in accordance with his principles, but he did it anyway because of the values from his northern culture, which always considers the view of an elderly as always right, even if the young one is right.

According to him, the letter of apology was obtained from him by the late Kofi Awunnor, who was then the Chairman of the Council of State, together with Captain Kojo Tsikata.

Removal from Office

Martin Amidu was relieved of his post on Thursday, January 19, 2012, by President John Evans Atta Mills under circumstances described by aids as ‘his misconduct’ at a meeting chaired by the president at the Osu Castle on January 18, 2012.

He made allegations relating to alleged financial impropriety on the part of another cabinet minister, claims he was asked by the then President to substantiate. He challenged his dismissal and got a court ruling in his favour.

Martin Amidu singlehandedly challenged the legality of the payments after being relieved of his post at the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court in 2014 ordered Mr. Woyome to pay back the money as Supreme Court judges unanimously granted the Attorney-General clearance to execute the court’s judgment, ordering Mr Woyome to refund the cash to the state.

Following the delays in retrieving the money, Mr. Amidu in 2016, filed an application at the Supreme Court seeking to examine Alfred Woyome, on how he would pay back the money, after the Attorney General’s office under the Mahama Administration, led by the former Minister for Justice, Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong, discontinued a similar application.

In February 2017 however, Mr. Amidu withdrew his suit seeking an oral examination, explaining that the change of government under the New Patriotic Party under His Excellency the President, Nana Addo Dankwah Akuffo Addo and his Attorney General, Miss Gloria Akuffo’s assurance to retrieve all judgment debts wrongfully paid to individuals Mr. Woyome in response prayed the Supreme Court to stay proceedings on the oral examination since he had filed for a review of the case.

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By: Farida Yusif/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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