Be bold to report any alleged issues of corruption - GII tells locals

The Ghana Integrity Initiative ( GII) has charged locals at Atonkor in the Oti region to come out boldly to report any activity of alleged corruption they spot in their communities.

This call was made during a sensitization program dubbed "mobile ALAC clinic", organized by the anti grat organization to encourage indigenes especially women to take advantage of the mechanisms put in place to check corruption and voice their concerns to seek redress through them.

Addressing the people, the GII Project Officer for the Volta zone Mr. Bright Agbagba said, "the aim of the program is to enlist the support of rural women towards the fight of corruption because they believe that the women are the most affected when it comes to corruption, and also believe they have the power to report same. The focus is on women because in every institution or public place in the country we find the majority being women who are exposed to various forms of corruption at these places".

"Looking at the fact that they ( locals) don't have any avenue to report corruption cases we believe that when we empower them they will be able to report and resist corruption", he added.

He again stated that what Ghana Integrity Initiative seeks to do is, "to introduce the locals to our Advocacy and Legal Advice Center ( ALAC) which is a corruption reporting mechanism that the organization has created and made simple for everybody to pursue his or her corruption case with an assurance of redress"

The Advocacy and Legal Advice Centre ( ALAC) is a free, confidential and professional service created by Ghana Integrity Initiative ( GII) to offer victims and witnesses of corruption an avenue to report and pursue incidences of corruption for redress.

Some of the services offered by ALAC are free consultation with a lawyer, referrals of complaints to anti-corruption agencies and other state bodies for investigation and sanctioning, and a follow-up on all referred cases until a resolution is achieved.

Mr. Bright Modey, the District Director for the Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice ( CHRAJ), enlightened the locals on anti-corruption laws and whistle blowers act by explaining to them the corruption phenomenon, and providing circumstances that can be classified as being acts of corruption.

The Ghana Education Service, Girl Child Director in the district, Madam Rukia Matogah who was a Guest at the event, said, "to our mothers, we've now seen that women are particularly the victims of several of the corruption acts in the country. This may be due to the inability to enroll our young girl children in schools which goes a long way to affect their welfare. I am therefore encouraging every woman here to make every possible effort to educate her young girl child in order to avoid these challenges".

An opinion leader who spoke at the sideline of the event and expressing his delight said, "one thing I've learnt from this forum is that as an opinion leader in the community, whenever developmental projects are ongoing in my community, I need to take keen interest in the quality of work that is being done in order to save the country of her resources"

In attendance were the National Commission for Civic Education Director, Mr. Stephen Mensah, the Social Welfare director for the district, Mrs Emelia Gbedoah, District Planning Officer, Mr. Gregory Tonozie, Chief of Atonkor, Nana Asiedu Agyedu IV, the Queen mother, Nana Agyedubea I, representatives of key groups in the community and the general public.