Changing the justice system to uproot political corruption

The menace of political corruption in Ghana has been with us since the early days of independence. Various governments have passed legislation and set up state institutions with the aim of dealing with corruption. But it has been with us.

Though one may be tempted to term it perception, we often read from the annual report of the Auditor

Read full article– General’s that so many billions of Ghana cedi are either missing through negligence or deliberate action or inaction of officials of named state institutions.

If we are serious about fighting political corruption then we have to change our justice system about prosecuting cases of political corruption. Currently, Ghana practices an adversarial justice system. The adversarial system aims to get the truth through the open competition between the prosecution and the defence. In this system, the burden of proof lies on the accuser.

Thus a citizen of Ghana, who suspects an official of siphoning state resources to build mansions overnight upon gaining a political appointment, has the burden to prove that the suspected official took money from the coffers of the state through some dubious means. How does a citizen discharge this burden of proof? He has no documents in his or her possession. All he can point to are the supposed assets of the suspected political official.

The citizen is therefore limited in ensuring that the tax he or she pays is wisely utilised for the betterment of Ghana. A political official, too much aware of this limitation on the part of the ordinary citizen, can engage in unbridled corruption to the detriment of the development of Ghana.

It is clear from the above that the ability to uproot political corruption is way beyond the capabilities of the ordinary citizens of Ghana. It is an extremely herculean task to discharge the burden of proof since a citizen may not have access to official documents to prosecute his or her case against the suspected state official.

This article seeks to advocate for the inquisitorial justice system for Ghana in the prosecution of politically related corruption cases. The inquisitorial system generally aims at getting the truth of the matter through extensive investigation and examination of all evidence. The conduct of the trial is in the hands of the court. The trial judge determines what witnesses to call and the order in which they are to be heard.

In the inquisitorial justice system, a court can investigate how a property is suspected to have been acquired through corruption. The court can make enquiries about the ownership of the land through the Lands Commission, building permit from the Assembly, source of finance for the building and any matter deemed necessary to get the truth.

It is clear from the above that the adoption of the inquisitorial justice system will put fear into political officials since they know a higher power can one day investigate the source of funds for their ill-gotten wealth through the action of an ordinary citizen of Ghana.

It is time to change the justice system for fighting political corruption in Ghana. We need to utilize well the hard-earned state resources to better a lot of Ghana and its citizens.