Let our laws deal with corrupt officials

GHANA has a number of laws to fight corruption, and all our governments have shown commitment in fighting the canker which has been the bane of our economy.

AS part of the measures to fight corruption in the country, a number of acts have been promulgated, including the Whistle Blowers Act, the Public Procurement Act and the Financial Administration Act.

DESPITE these acts, the issue of perceived corruption still prevails in every facet of our national endeavours as the country searches for rapid growth and development.

IT is interesting to note that Parliament, notwithstanding all these acts passed by it, thinks there is a gap somewhere, for which reason it adopted the National Action Plan Against Corruption (NAPAC). The plan was developed by the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and other anti-corruption agencies as a blueprint to help fight corruption.

THOUGH the adoption of NAPAC has been positive in our bid to fight against this canker, Today believes that what the country rather needs is a strong political will, backed by a strong and vigilant civil society, to get the acts enforced.

IT is for this reason that we think President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo must be proactive in his commitment to make corruption unattractive by ensuring that the laws against corruption work without fear or favour.

OTHERS have identified lack of resources as a contributory factor to the ineffectiveness of anti-corruption agencies to deal with the issue. They argue that if the agencies are strengthened, they will become bastions against the canker.

IN all of these, Today would want to support the need for governments to show the political will and bring perpetrators of corrupt acts to book.

MORE often, when a government wants to show political will, others want to politicise issues of corruption, but this time around, we hope when the laws start dealing with corrupt officials, it will not be interpreted as witch-hunting.

IT is also important for our state institutions to stop politicizing issues of corruption and establish a means of naming and shaming individuals found to have engaged in corrupt acts.

REGRETABLY, we are in a country where many examples abound of officials who have failed to account for resources allocated to them but have been left to go scot-free because of partisan considerations.

AS a country, we also do not have the culture of accepting responsibility for our actions and inaction and blame all our efforts at fighting corruption on other entities, thereby rendering all the efforts at fighting corruption cosmetic and a public relations gimmick.

IT is in line with these developments that the fight against corruption must be all-encompassing. Stakeholders concerned with good governance must be worried that the canker is on the ascendancy and affect efforts at the judicious utilisation of public resources.

WE are all duty bound, particularly the political class and traditional leaders, to stop shielding cronies and colleagues who are found to be corrupt and instead give them up for the law to take its course.

IT is only by doing this collectively that the nation will make a head way in its fight against corruption.