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Ghanaians do not need to fix themselves – They need good leadership

A few weeks ago a group launched a campaign with the hashtag FixTheCountry. The group was calling on the Government to fix the unstable electricity and water supply, reduce the incidence of corruption, stop illegal mining and solve the unemployment problem.

Another group opposed to the FixTheCountry group emerged with the hashtag FixYourself.

Sovereignty they say resides and flows from the people so the people have a right to question ineffective government policies and actions and condemn unethical behaviour. People have important roles to play in the development of a nation.

Unfortunately, in Ghana the active participation of the people is limited to lining up to cast a vote at polling booths and the occasional complaints and participation in demonstrations and strikes. We hardly question our political leaders except at election time. Do we hold our leaders accountable for their actions and decisions?

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Corruption fight must start from the top – Justice Appau

A judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Yaw Appau, has stated that the fight against corruption can only be won if there is commitment and integrity at the highest levels of political office.

“The clean-up must start from the top. When the head is strong, the body cannot be weak but strong. But when the head is weak or rotten, the body too becomes automatically weak and smelly” he said.

Justice Appau was speaking at the 8th edition of the Leadership Dialogue Series organized by the Centre for Social Justice, under the theme, Uprooting Public Sector and Political Corruption in Ghana.

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Ghana’s corruption performance has been in decline since 2012 – Mary Awelana Addah

In spite of a number of legislations passed which put in place a solid legal framework for combatting corruption, Ghana has failed to make significant progress in its fight against corruption.

The observation was made by Mary Awelana Addah, Programmes Manager at the Ghana Integrity Initiative.

She made the comment at a Leadership Dialogue Series organized by the Centre for Social Justice, under the theme, Uprooting Public Sector and Political Corruption in Ghana.

She said, “the passage of legislations like the Whistle Blower Act, Declaration of Assets and Disqualification, Act 1998 (Act 550), Financial Administration Act, 2003 (Act 654), the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663) and the Internal Audit Agency Act, 2003 (Act 658) should have placed Ghana as a shining example of nations with higher integrity, unfortunately, the story today is the opposite”

According to her, the evidence of Ghana’s fight against corruption per surveys such as the Corruption Perception index since 2012, when the index became comparable doesn’t paint an encouraging picture, with a 2020 score of 43 out of a possible clean score of 100 and ranked 75th out of 180 countries/territories.

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Corruption Watch analysis: unaccounted gold exports worth 30bn cedis

You might have heard some time ago about the over US$3.6bn gold that was shipped out of Ghana to India without going through the necessary processes.

Compare that with the over US$6.3 billion Corruption Watch has discovered from our analysis of available data.

In 2016, information came through that between January 2014 and January 2016, a total of 101,179 kg of gold valued at US$3,607,415,756.36 was shipped out of Ghana to India alone, without going through the necessary processes. This certainly posed a high risk of money laundering and illicit financial outflows out of Ghana.

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CID begins investigations into alleged corruption in school feeding in Ashanti Region

The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service has commenced investigations into an alleged corruption in the school feeding program in the Ashanti Region.

About fifty three high schools in the region are reported to be engaging in corrupt practices on the program.

In a letter addressed to the GES Regional Director, the Service listed 53 schools to be investigated for alleged corruption in implementing the Free SHS Feeding Programme.

According to the Deputy Director-General, Anthony Boateng, the CID has informed GES about the ongoing investigation.

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