SET UP INDEPENDENT BODY TO PROBE CORRUPT OFFICIALS (PAGE 38)

Story Chris Nunoo, Wa

A Legal practitioner with the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) in Wa, Mr Siddique Ubeidu, has reiterated the need to establish an independent body to investigate allegations of corruption against government officials and other people who abuse the powers vested in them.
That, he said, was the only way constitutionally established bodies like CHRAJ and the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) could work effectively.
He questioned the independence of the Office of Accountability and asked if it could not continue with investigations into allegations against Dr Richard Anane after the court had ruled on the basis of technicalities against CHRAJ.
Mr Ubeidu said although he had no problem with the ruling by the Supreme Court on the matter, there was still the need for an institution like the Office of Accountability to take the matter up and delve further into the allegations to be able to clear Dr Anane or otherwise before the matter could be allowed to rest.
He raised the concern at a workshop in Wa on how to promote good governance and democracy in Ghana.
It was on the theme; “Fighting corruption, an agenda for democracy and good governance”, and organised by the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), an NGO, in collaboration with the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), with support from MISERIO, DFID and DANIDA.
The Upper West Regional Director of the NCCE, Mr Kofi Adomah, catalogued some of the effects associated with corrupt practices and said corruption denied people their rights, as well as slowed down development.
He stressed the need for citizens to start the fight against corrupt practices from their homes, instead of always targeting politicians.
He also urged the participants to share the knowledge they had acquired at the workshop and expose the ills in society.
For her part, the Programmes Manager of GII, Mrs Linda Ofori-Kwafo, said the training programmes were to bring the issues of corruption and good governance to the doorstep of people, adding that the GII was an advocacy group which was working to minimise corrupt practices in the country.
She urged the electorate to vote according to their conscience in the December 2008 elections, saying, “We must vote according to our conscience and not vote for dishonest and corrupt politicians.”