Speaking to Citi News, the Minority Spokesperson on Communications, A.B.A. Fuseini said the drop in Ghana’s ranking on the Index proves that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government is unwilling to fight the canker.

[contextly_sidebar id=”d7I9yMEhSkUtEaxHk9kksWjaka357oUD”]”It is a vindication of us in the Minority; that we had said consistently that there has been so much corruption in this government. In the one-year-old government of President Nana Akufo-Addo, the corruption has been stinking to the high heavens,” he said.

He cited the $2.25 billion bond saga, which he said “the government was not even interested” in looking into.

Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta was accused of cronyism by the Minority in the bond issue, although the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) cleared him of any conflict of interest.

Mr. Fuseini noted other allegations of corruption which have been made under the current administration saying, “we have had the occasion to talk about the five million contaminated litres of fuel which were sent out under corrupt and opaque circumstances. We’ve had premix fuel issues. We have had issues coming from Korle Bu. We have had issues at the Presidency itself.”

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.

Index factored in Mahama government

The government has however argued that Ghana’s poor performance in the 2017 Global Corruption Perception Index also took into account corruption cases recorded under the John Mahama administration, which left power in January 2017.

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

The Ghana Integrity Initiative’s (GII) also 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.

It should be noted that only two of 13 data sources were from 2016, the Global Insight Country Risk Ratings and the African Development Bank Country Policy and Institutional Assessment.

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’s figure 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.

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By: Duke Mensah Opoku & Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Corruption ranking proves rot in Nana Addo gov’t – Minority appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

[contextly_sidebar id=”93p4ejYFXdO7qgxuPuK7jzCwJ2QkGxe9″]After the nomination of Martin Amidu as Special Prosecutor and his expected approval by Parliament in the coming days, attention is expected to turn to the composition of the Office.

There appears to be no doubt in the eyes of most Ghanaians that Martin Amidu, also known as the Citizen Vigilante, possesses the requisite integrity and credibility to head the office promised by the New Patriotic Party government to fight corruption within the State machinery.

Speaking on Eyewitness News, Mr. Azeem stressed that Martin Amidu “should have a free hand to decide what cases he wants to investigate” and also who to include in his team.

“In principle, he will be working up to the Attorney General but I don’t think he will be required or compelled to take prosecutions from the Attorney General’s office… if the President is committed and the Attorney General is committed, they will give him the free hand to appoint some of the key persons from outside the Attorney General’s department. That is how it [remains] independent.”

“…But if it is going to be loaded with people from the Attorney General’s department to do the work, then already, they are starting on a false basis,” he added.

Mr. Azeem noted that there were a lot of private lawyers Mr. Amidu could appoint along with investigators from entities like the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO), the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and other institutions.

“So if he has a free hand, he will look around with his top management staff and look for the appropriate people to do the work,” he said.

Also commenting on the matter on Eyewitness News, the Executive Director of the Ghana Integrity Initiative, Linda Ofori-Kwafo urged Ghanaians to remain vigilant and ensure the right processes are followed in the setting up of the special prosecutor’s office.

“What we need to do as an organization and as individuals is to the monitor the implementation of the provisions of the new law so that we see to it that the new appointees work according to what has been provided for in the law.”

“That is the only way we can say that we are being neutral, objective and are doing everything possible to make sure perpetrators of corruption do not go scot free as has happened in the past,” Mrs. Ofori-Kwafo remarked.

The office of the Special Prosecutor will have the mandate to investigate and prosecute cases of alleged corruption under the Public Procurement Act 203 Act 63, and other corruption-related offences implicating public officers, political office holders and accomplices.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Give Amidu freedom to compose Special Prosecutor’s office – Azeem appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.