Popular radio presenter Kwami Sefa Kayi has urged Ghanaians to rally behind any attempt to punish former government officials found to have been corrupt.
He said too often politicians who misconduct themselves in office whip up partisan sympathies of ordinary Ghanaians to turn sections of the public against the prosecutorial powers of government.
“If we know it is genuinely wrong, why can’t we say this is not about politics?… it is our money. it is our country,” Sefa Kayi popularly addressed as ‘Chairman General,’ said.
“Let’s stop clothing everything in political colours. If they committed crime, they must do the time,’ he quipped in an interview with Joy FM’s Kojo Yankson. He said the only way to restore a sense of accountability in Ghana’s body politic is for government to leave no Ghanaian in doubt that there will be consequences for engaging in corruption.
“The moment I know some corrupt official has been thrown into jail, I will think twice. The laws must work.
“We cannot continue to bleed our country dry, we cannot continue to do the shady deals and make it seem as business as usual,” he stated.
The fight against corruption was one of the main themes of the 2016 political campaign which saw a change in government from the NDC to the NPP led by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
The president has vowed to make corruption a ‘high-risk activity’ by setting up the Office of Special Prosecutor which will have the power to fight political crime through the courts.
Akufo-Addo believes the office will reduce perceptions of witch-hunting which often characterise the trial of government officials – present or former.
Kwami Sefa Kayi is convinced some former government officials will face prosecution when the law is passed to establish the Office of the Independent Special Prosecutor.
“I think so. It will happen,” he told Kojo Yankson. The decorated host of Peace FM morning show observed that the motive of some persons who go into government is ‘what they can get not what they can give’.
He said there is no doubt that going into government creates opportunities for politicians but any abuse of such opportunities should not go unpunished.
The award-winning broadcaster also shared observations he has made about the life of politicians after they have lost power.
‘Some of those people came from nothing’ before they joined government but soon feel intoxicated by power until they ‘come crashing right down.’
He also said appointees to government offices should be persons of experience in management.
“I have always been of the conviction that when you are stepping into government, you should not be a novice.
“Personally, I have an aversion for people who walk straight out of school into government…it is not as if they are not intelligent enough…but there is something called experience. You can never quantify the value of experience.
“Some of them have never worked for themselves or for anybody before”, he said adding that whenever there is a change in power, appointees who have not adequately prepared for life after government are bound to suffer.
It happened after President Kufuor..it will happen after Mahama, he said.
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