Cross section of Ghanaians are urging President Akufo-Addo to purge himself and members of his government of corruptible acts if he is so desirous and committed to winning his widely proclaimed war against graft and sleaze.
Proponents say, virtually every Ghanaian including President Akufo-Addo, have and continue to engage in one form of corruption or the other, therefore, to demonstrate commitment to tackling the canker head-on is to appreciate and understand what constitute corruption.
“Corruption did not start with officials of the previous administration…it is something that happens every day and that has permeated all regimes. To sustain the fight against corruption and perhaps to banish it, President Akufo-Addo must purge himself and his appointees of any act of corruption because the President himself and his men are not clean,” a former Ghanaian diplomat noted.
Renowned anti-corruption crusader, Mr Vitus Azeem has cast doubt on President Akufo-Addo’s fight against corruption. He faulted the government for starting its overhyped crusade against corruption on a bad note.
According to the anti-corruption crusader, Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta and Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko, should have been asked to step aside for investigations into the respective corruption charges against them. He said the Akufo-Addo government would have been taken serious as committed to fighting corruption if Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta and Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko had stepped aside in respective of corruption allegations leveled against them.
The President, others observed, will be hypocritical and seen as unwilling to deal with corrupt officials if he absolves himself and his appointees of corruption, and extend his corruption rod to only appointees of the past government.
Citing Roman 3: 23, a well-known Socio-political analyst said “corruption is like sin. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory God. President Akufo-Addo cannot sincerely say he has never been involved in any corrupt practice. Corruption is not only about stealing money from the public purse…even appointing 110 ministers and failing to make public which amongst them constitute Cabinet Ministers as required by the constitution is corruption. That is the moral aspect of corruption.”
“If you are the President of this country and your appointees have been accused of taking bribes or engaged in shady deals and you look on without calling for investigation into the matter, you are also engaged in corruption. Since President Akufo-Addo was sworn into office, look at the number of corruption allegations that have been made by members of his own party against their senior colleagues; which of them has he ordered investigations into? None…this tells you that the President himself must purge himself of corruption; he must be seen taking action against his appointees over corruption allegations and every Ghanaian will support his war against corruption,” an anti-corruption crusader who does not want to be named told The aL-hAJJ.
“The President would be lacking the moral standing to punish officials of the previous administration if he does not come clean on some of the corrupt practices he himself has been cited. He must, for instance, speak to allegations that he illegally benefited from NPP funds lodged in a secret ECOBANK account. He should also be telling us where and how he and his party, the NPP, raised the millions of cedis, including foreign funding to prosecute the campaign that led him win the elections to be made President…what has he done in respect of the Addison committee that was allegedly sponsored by Ameri, an entity they were tasked to investigate?” he added.
On his part, Executive Director of the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG), Dr Emmanuel Akwetey, called on President Akufo-Addo to as a matter of urgency put in stringent measures to fortify the country’s law enforcement, anti-corruption and national security institutions.
He explains that the bodies established to deal with issues pertaining to crime and corruptions in the country are being politically controlled by big wigs in government and as a result are rendered almost incapacitated.
According to him, politicians should be able to give such institutions “their space” to operate effectively to eradicate corruption in the country.
Dr. Akwetey also attributed the politicization of appointments and recruitments into such institutions to the problem. He explained that most persons are appointed or recruited into the very same bodies to deal with the root cause of corruption based on politics rather than merit and competence.
These persons he said, as a result of wanting to maintain their positions, play along with the rules of the politicians and sit aloof whilst the canker persists.
“there’s too much political control and supervision, you will see it from the appointment of the IGP, the appointment of EOCO, BNI Heads and so on, the parties that come into power by virtue of their majority position in Parliament, are interested in who is charge of these institutions Deputy National Organizer of the National Democratic Congress, Joshua Hamidu Akamba, has also urged President Akufo-Addo to begin his fight against corruption from his government and extend it to other corrupt officials from other parties.
While applauding the President Akufo-Addo for his resolve to root-out corruption, Mr Akamba said the President should have investigated corruption allegations made against some officials of his government if he was to be seen as committed to fighting it.
‘’We know that the president is planning to persecute and deal with the NDC. If he wants to fight corruption, he should start from his own home. We all knew what happened with the Boakye Agyarko’s case. Even before an investigation was instituted, he swore him into office,’’ he noted.
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