President Nana Addo has promised to depoliticize prosecution of corrupt public officials in his government.
The President indicated that government will create the “office of special prosecutor which will not be a creature of the government, but an independent person who will have the power to decide who to prosecute” to successfully achieve this aim.
While pledging to ensure that the laws are fully applied without fear or favour, the President stated emphatically that he will not protect any corrupt public official in his government.
President Akufo-Addo made this known on Wednesday when he addressed a meeting of Ghanaians living in Sierra Leone, as part of his 1-day working visit to Sierra Leone.
The President stressed that “when people get caught up in the net, I am imploring people not to come to me and say that ‘Oh! Nana, this man is my relative, so spare him’. That is the problem in Ghana. You find people going to speak to your wife with the hope of trying to influence you. I am not going to listen to that, because my concern is Ghana and not one or two individuals.”
He, therefore, urged Ghanaians to help him in the fight against corruption, “so that we can put that Ghana behind us, and get a new deal for our country.”
Citing the recent arrest of the some customs officials responsible for the loss of some GH¢1.2 billion in revenue to the state , the President said his government is taking measures to block revenue leakages at the country’s ports.
“That money was going, not into the government’s coffers, but into private pockets. We have importers who evade duty because they split the duty with customs officials. It cannot continue like that in Ghana,” the President said.
He continued, “I want to assure you that, so long as I have the opportunity, and I have breath and power, I am going to do something about it, so we can stop the leakages. I know that if we stop the leakages, we will have the money to do our own development. We are not going to be dependent on some people coming to say they are going to give us charity or grants. We will finance our own development ourselves.”
In conclusion, President Akufo-Addo stated that “we want to turn a new page in the history of our country. We are a rich country. I refuse this idea that Ghana is poor. I will not accept the language that Ghana is poor. Ghana is not a poor country. Ghana is a rich country, and we want to make it a rich country once again in our time.”
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(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)
