Anti-corruption crusader, Dr. Kojo Osei-Wusuh, has launched a campaign to engage politicians and their respective parties to make corruption a major subject in their campaign towards Ghana’s 2016 general elections.
He believes now is the best time to commit politicians to rid the society of corrupt practices that retard development, emphasizing that corruption is becoming endemic, and forms the basis of most problems faced by the country.
“Poverty, unemployment and lack of amenities can be traced to the fact that monies are being channeled to people’s pockets,” he said.
Rev. Osei-Wusuh, who is a board member of the anti-corruption agency, Ghana Transparency Initiative, wants political parties to move beyond their fixation on corruption accusations and counter-accusations and rather be consistent in informing Ghanaians on how they intend to tackle the canker.
“Any government who thinks he is fighting corruption should be fighting the one that ordinary people always encounter in the public places, on the roads and market places,” he stated.
The former President of the Ghana Baptist Convention also expects Christians to lead the crusade of a corruption-free environment, noting “the voice of the church seems to be muted”.
Rev. Osei-Wusuh wants the status quo changed with the formation of the ‘Forum for Christians Against Corruption’ (FoFCAC), a platform to mobilize Christians to shun corruption whilst campaigning against the practice in everyday life – schools, health centers, workplaces among others.
Among activities of the Forum is to engage aspiring parliamentarians to inform the electorates on their plan of action to support government in uprooting corruption when voted to power.
The first voter-education against corruption forum, on Wednesday September 21, will involve all parliamentary candidates in the Subin Constituency in the Ashanti region who will speak on what they will do to fight corruption when voted for.
“If any politician mounts campaign, in the area of corruption, he should start telling us that as the citizenry goes to the public places and they are asked money that they should not be paying, what are they going to do specifically to stop that practice?” quizzed Rev. Dr. Osei-Wusuh.
He said the electorates must be able to hold politicians to commit to uprooting the corruptions from all facets of society.
By Kofi Adu Domfeh|TV3|3news.com|Ghana
Twitter @adomfeh
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