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Investigate Frontiers Covid-19 testing contract at KIA – Vitus Azeem

Anti-graft campaigner Vitus Azeem is demanding a probe into circumstances leading to the signing of the Covid-19 testing contract at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA).

It follows details alleging that the Ghana Airport Company Limited (GACL) was short-changed by Frontiers HealthCare Services which was contracted by the government to conduct Covid-19 tests.

Documents sighted by JoyNews show that the company agreed to pay $10 to the GACL per antigen test conducted.

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Council of State cannot fight corruption – Vitus Azeem tells Akufo-Addo

Anti-Corruption campaigner and Executive Director of Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), Vitus Azeem says he is not sure of the capacity of the Council of State in the fight against corruption.

He believes the Council can only contribute to the fight as an advisory body but has no powers to fight the menace as stated by President Akufo-Addo during their (Council of State) swearing-in ceremony.

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Police Commissioner misinterpreting Ghanaian proverbs to justify his support for police corruption

Wonders, indeed, will never end. In a shameless attempt to justify his support for the worldwide known Ghana police corruption, Commissioner of Police (COP) Nathan Kofi Boakye, alias Commander One, decides to rubbish some centuries-old Akan proverbs. COP Nathan Kofi Boakye for the last time I checked was the Head of the Legal and Prosecution Service of the Ghana Police. He has a postgraduate degree in Administration and also, he is a barrister at law.

One would expect him to live above reproach but unfortunately, he has come across not only as a defender of police corruption but himself as a corrupt person. This fact is established by virtue of his pronouncements and actions taken in defence of the police corruption and in regards to the Kumawu chieftaincy dispute when he was the DCOP in charge of the Ashanti region.

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Consider the police, if you want to strengthen institutions against corruption – Governance Expert advises

Governance Expert Williams Amofa has cautioned that if the country wants to rid of corruption by strengthening institutions, the police institution must be the first place of call.

According to him, our constitution has made it impossible to make the Police independent and that is affecting the corruption fight in the country.

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Justice for sale in Ghana

The power of Ghana’s corrupt judiciary system is stronger than the strength of the Biblical Samson. Probably many people like to live in a country which judiciary system is weak and corrupt, whereby offenders have an easy game, enjoy impunity, while honest people suffer.

However, the fact is a country without rules is abandoned to violence, abuse, crime, without culture and eventually becomes the victim of ignorance and human misery.

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GACC charges public institutions to publicize procurement data to curb corruption

The Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC) has underscored the need for proactive disclosure of procurement data, to enable the public to access and report corrupt activities in public procurement.

Speaking at a day’s workshop in Accra, on 23th February, 2021, Ms. Faustina Djabatey, Communications Officer at GACC, said, citizens should know about projects being done, the cost involved and as well as the location, in order to eliminate corruption.

“Making procurement data available will enable Civil Society Organisations, the media and the general public to subject such procurements to a thorough scrutiny and if there are any red flag, it will be raised before the contracts are even awarded.

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Applauding the Forestry Commission for listening and acting

Who tells you that all public institutions in Ghana are weak, corrupt and mostly nonchalant hence are not fit for purpose?

Following my recent publication on 3 February 2021, in regards of the felling of neem trees by some Chinese nationals in the Wiamoase area, precisely in Kokoteasu, the Forestry Commission did not hesitate to contact me over the issue.

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Corruption Risk Assessment in prevention efforts

The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) in the latter part of 2020, conducted what it described as a Corruption Risk Assessment (CRA) on the Agyapa Royalties deal.

This would have been the first time a CRA was operationalised by a law enforcement agency in Ghana.

The outcome of that exercise generated a lot of furore about whether it was indeed a Risk Assessment for corruption, (refer to Section 2 C of the OSP Act, 959 (2017) or an investigation of suspected corruption (Section 2A).

The two subsections are complementary, but are they interchangeable?

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Dissolved GIJ secretary withdraws GHC 50,000 from students accounts as prez stashes GHC 30,000

Information available to YTimes indicates that the defunct GIJ SRC Executive, led by the interim President, Alimatu Quaye, has withdrawn GH¢50, 000 from the SRC Account to allegedly pay for the cost of providing free data for the student body.

However, payment for the data was not made but only a portion of the amount, GH¢20, 000 has been re-deposited into the student account.

This move happened on Friday, 12th February 2020 barely 24 hours after Management of the Institute issued a directive that the appointed interim executive should desist from carrying themselves as the legitimate Executive Committee of the GIJ SRC. The directive was given because, according to management the current leadership were not properly inducted into office.

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PPA, KNUST, UPSA, Graphic, others lead list of internal audit lawbreakers

Corruption Watch has discovered that a high number of regulatory bodies and academic institutions have broken the law requiring them to file annual internal audit plans and quarterly internal audit reports.

A total of 15 regulatory bodies and 12 academic institutions stand accused for defaulting in the submission of required reports as at the end of December 2020. The Public Procurement Authority (PPA), the State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), Graphic Communications Group Limited are among high profile regulatory,  academic and state institutions, which defaulted in the submission of reports to the Internal Audit Agency (IAA).

The Internal Audit Agency and its staff are supposed to carry out audits before, during and after spending. The expectation, therefore, is that they are in a better position to ‘catch’ the thief before or during the ‘stealing’, making it easier to recover stolen public funds.

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