Executive Secretary of GACC, Beauty Emefa Narteh, is calling on every stakeholder in the country to have zero tolerance for corruption.

[contextly_sidebar id=”4GA6ivylhA7M3waxXaTfdCH7cR4BcOsN”]The Coalition believes that if stringent monitoring mechanisms are put in place at the local and national levels, corruption can be prevented.

Speaking to Citi News to mark this year’s World Water Day on the theme ‘Nature For Water’, Executive Secretary of GACC, Beauty Emefa Narteh, said individuals engaged in all forms of illegal acts in the sector must be punished.

“People who are found culpable of illegal connection should be punished because that is one of the challenges we have in this country. When people perpetuate acts and they are not punished, then it makes corruption a gainful venture, ”she said.

The Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) in 2015 vowed to wage war on people engaged in illegal water connection.

It thus appealed for strong public support, and announced a reward package to people who would volunteer information to the company, leading to the arrest of the offenders.

GWCL cited many instances where water meters installed were tampered with to distort the meter reading in order for the beneficiaries to evade the payment of the correct bills for the water consumed.

They had stepped up efforts to deal with these illegalities, and had set up a “Laws Control Team” to move from house-to-house to disconnect services which did not have proper documentation.

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By: Farida Yusif/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post GACC urges gov’t to deal with corruption in water sector appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to the coalition, there are a number of instances where duty bearers accept bribes and fail to discharge their duties as expected of them thus giving room for the illegality to thrive.

Speaking on the on the Citi Breakfast Show on Wednesday, the Executive Secretary for the Ghana Anti-corruption coalition, Beauty Emefa Narteh, noted that galamsey will persist if corruption among authorities is not addressed.

[contextly_sidebar id=”bknRmi4nGP6pKnn8ptqgTIdFdH2TXkgp”]She further blamed the issue on what she described as “systemic governance failures.”

“The statistics being put out is very alarming and troubling. And as a coalition, we think that the galamsey menace depicts some systemic governance failures that need to be urgently addressed. The truth is, one cannot discount the contribution of corruption in fueling this illegality in Ghana. Clearly, you can agree with me that corruption is at the heart of this impunity. Some of the practices such as bribery and extortion are deeply ingrained in this illegal activity.”

“For instance, Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition with Ghana Integrity Initiative and Send Ghana, recently carried out some actual experiences of citizens on corruption and most of the citizens who have engaged with these authorities had paid bribe. And reasons for paying bribe include the need to avoid problems with the authorities; which means that some of these authorities are taking money from citizens so that they turn a blind eye to what they need to do and that is why we think that we need to stop it now.”

She also commended Citi FM for launching a campaign against galamsey dubbed “#StopGalamseyNow.”

#StopGalamseyNow is a campaign that calls on government to undertake five steps to clamp down on the menace which is destroying the county’s land and water resources, and may see Ghana resorting to the importation of clean water in the next two decades.

“I also agree that it is a collaborative work and that is why I am appealing to every Ghanaian to join in this. The statistics are alarming; we need to stop galamsey now. We need to stop the impunity. We need to ensure that Ghana is brought back to what it is,” the Executive Secretary of the coalition added.

Madam Narteh also called on the security agencies to enforce the necessary laws in the country to stop galamsey.

“We need to enforce the laws. We have laws guiding all these mining menace, why are the authorities not applying the laws. We think that these issues have to be immediately addressed to save mother Ghana,” she added.menace, why are the authorities not applying the laws. We think that these issues have to be immediately addressed to save mother Ghana,” she added.

Galamsey menace

There has been intense pressure on government to deal with the galamsey menace following reports that Ghana may soon import water if nothing is done.government to deal with the galamsey menace following reports that Ghana may soon import water if nothing is done.

Currently, some water treatment plants have been shut down over activities of illegal miners, which have rendered water bodies from which the plants harvest water for processing useless.

The galamsey menace has also led to the destruction of many farmlands, which serve as livelihood for a number of families.galamsey menace has also led to the destruction of many farmlands, which serve as livelihood for a number of families.

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

The post Corruption fueling galamsey – Anti-corruption coalition appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.