President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said his Government had spent more monies on anti-corruption institutions, education, health, infrastructure, particularly roads, agriculture, industry, and security services, than any government in the Fourth Republic.
President Akufo-Addo said after all the expenditures, the government was still able to find GHC25.2 billion to pay depositors arising from the financial crises which began in August 2017.
Those expenditures, he said, justified and indicated “clearly, what the taxpayers’ monies — the revenues of government — had been used for.
Speaking at the National Anti-Corruption Conference organised by the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) in Accra on Friday, the President said it would be difficult to sustain any serious argument about the wanton dissipation of public funds in his time as President.
He said his government had taken the boldest initiatives since the country gained independence some 63 years ago to reform and strengthen the capacity of institutions to tackle corruption in the country’s public sector.
Some Laws passed by his Government — Revenue Administration (Amendment) Act 2020 (Act 1029), Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2018 ( Act 982), the State Interest and Governance Authority Act, 2019 ( Act 990), Corporate Restructuring and Insolvency Act, 2020 (Act 1015), Companies Act, 2020 (Act 992), Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 ( Act 1019) and Real Estate Agency Act, 2020 ( Act 1047), had enhanced significantly the capacity of the State to fight against corruption.
The President said his government’s fight against corruption had been grounded on legislative, financial and institutional actions, and “not on lip-service.”
President Akufo-Addo said budgetary allocations to institutions actively engaged in public sector accountability, the Office of the Attorney-General, Office of the Special Prosecutor, Judiciary, Parliament, Ghana Police Service, had all witnessed unprecedented increase since he assumed office in 2017.
In 2018, the country’s Parliament passed the Witness Protection Act, 2018 (975) to which the President gave his assent on the 24th of August same year.
The Act established a Witness Protection Agency to establish a witness protection scheme as a vehicle to offer protection to persons, who are required to cooperate with law enforcement agencies in the investigation and prosecution of cases, particularly corruption cases affecting public officers.
President Akufo-Addo said with the clear understanding that corruption thrived in an atmosphere conducive to its concealment, his government ensured the passage of the “Right to Information” Act (2019), to give true meaning and effect to Article 21 (1)(f) of the country’s Constitution.
Last year (2020) the Criminal Offenses (Amendment) Act, 2020 (Act 1024) was passed to amend section 239 of the Criminal Offenses Act, to categorise the offences of corruption, previously a misdemeanour, as a felony, and to guarantee stiffer punishment of not less than 12 years and not more than 25 years.
With regard to prosecution, the Office of the Attorney-General and the Economies and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), in addition to many corruption cases being prosecuted around the country, had successfully prosecuted high profile cases, including a case of stealing in Republic v Eugene Bafoe-Bonnie and others.
According to President Akufo-Addo, many high profile prosecutions involving corruption, economic crime, fraud, procurement breaches and money launderings like the Republic v Alhaji Collins Dauda and 4 Others, in the Saglami Housing Scandal, are ongoing.
The President said the sole object of all these cases is to hold the public officers accountable, involving the sum in excess of $850 million and GHc2 billion.
The digitisation agenda actively perused by his government which comprises a robust national identification system, digital property addressing system, the paperless port system, e-Justice system, Pensions and Insurance data, digitised land registry, and mobile money interoperability system, has the overarching objective to improve transparency, accountability and efficiency in the public sector.
A digitised environment, President Akufo-Addo indicated, ultimately, helped to eliminate and prevent corruption in and around institutions and agencies of State.
He said with all these bold attempts at fighting corruption, there were some who had refused to appreciate his process at dealing with menace and had characterised him as a “clearing agent” because, for them, any mere allegation without more, was enough to merit condemnation of the public official.
“For me, I will not set aside due process in the fight against corruption no matter how much opprobrium this incurs for me,” President Akufo-Addo stated.
“What I have done is to show you that my government have fought corruption not in words, but in concrete deeds. We have shunned mere exhortations and showy denunciations of unapproved corruption.”
The 2021 Anti-Corruption and Transparency (ACT) event was organised to commemorate the International Anti-Corruption Day & Human Rights Day, on the general theme: “Building a Culture of Integrity for Generations”.
Rex Mainoo Yeboah, ISD
