Ecuador ex-president sentenced to eight years for corruption

Former Ecuador president Rafael Correa was sentenced in absentia to eight years in prison for corruption during his 10-year term in office, the attorney general’s office said Tuesday

Correa — who was president from 2007-17 but now lives in exile in Belgium, where his wife was born — was one of 18 people convicted of bribery, the office said on Twitter.

Correa, who has always claimed to be a victim of political persecution and accuses his country’s judges of complicity, hit out at the sentence.

“I know the process and what the judges say is a LIE. They’ve proved absolutely NOTHING. Pure false testimony without evidence,” he wrote on Twitter.

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Coronavirus presents bonanza for kleptocrats

The coronavirus provides compelling proof that the world needs an International Anti-Corruption Court to punish and deter kleptocrats who enjoy impunity in the countries they rule.

Very little is certain about the coronavirus, and we are only judges, not prophets. However, we can confidently predict that the response to the pandemic will be a bonanza for kleptocrats — an opportunity for the corrupt leaders of many countries to further enrich themselves.

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Safeguard coronavirus funds from white-collar thieves – NGOs to government

A strong appeal has gone to the government to protect the funds being provided towards curbing the spread of the new coronavirus (COVID-19) from being misappropriated by “unscrupulous” public officials and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

The call is contained in a press statement jointly issued by the Africa Centre for Public Policy Watch (ACPPW) and the Ghana Coalition of NGOs in Health (GCNH).

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A Deep Dive into the Auditor General’s Performance Audit for Roads

If the Tetteh-Quarshie to Madina highway is your usual route, I have a couple of revelations for you. Number one: there was approximately 117 months of delay to that project. Number two: the extensions of time resulted in additional costs of about 146.91 million Ghana cedis or six hundred and twenty-four percent (624%).

That is not all. I will also take you through some more revealing facts about the construction of the East Legon to Spintex Road Tunnel and the Ayamfuri to New Obuase Road Project, among others. 

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Martin Amidu invites Samuel Mahama, 3 others to assist in Airbus investigations

Four persons have been invited by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) to answer questions relating to their roles in an alleged act of bribery and other offences in government’s acquisition of three aircraft from Airbus.

A UK/Ghanaian citizen Samuel Adam Foster alias Samuel Adam Mahama who is said to be related to former president John Mahama as well as three other British citizens; Philip Sean Middlemiss; Sarah Davis and Sarah Furneaux have been invited to assist in investigations.

The invitation comes after the OSP headed by Special Prosecutor Martin Alamisi Amidu completed its preliminary investigations into the Airbus saga.

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Kotoka International Airport Baggage Check-in Staff are Practising Big Time Corruption

The Ghanaian’s silly infatuation with bribery, extortion and corruption never abates regardless of the circumstance.

Now that the world is almost on a lockdown with businesses collapsing, airlines grounding their aircrafts with owners ordering their staff to proceed home on compulsory unpaid leave, etc., a detestable scenario is unfolding at the Kotoka airport in Ghana.

The luggage check-in staff of some of the few airlines still allowed into the country despite the outbreak of the fatal coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, are engaged in active corruption to enrich themselves.

The following is how they do it. Some of the airlines, especially the British Airways, have come out with a policy similar to that of promotion sales to attract more passengers to patronise their aircrafts.

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Ghana Vision 2020: The Successes And Failures

In 1995, the NDC government led by Jerry John Rawlings launched a vision 2020 document that was put together by the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) as Ghana’s blue print for sustainable development. The long-term vision of the document was that “by the year 2020, Ghana would have achieved a balanced economy and middle-income country status and standard of living, with a level of development close to the present level of development in Singapore”.

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CHRAJ, others sign agreement to combat corruption, crime

Eleven key accountable institutions (KAIs) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to collaborate and exchange information to combat corruption and crime in the country.

The agreement was spearheaded by the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), with financial support from the Accountability, Rule of Law and Anti-corruption Programme (ARAP), an EU-sponsored initiative.

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GII engages women in fight against corruption

The Ghana Integrity Initiative has begun advocacy directed at raising the next generation of females to be at the forefront of the anti-corruption fight.

The GII has identified that women will be the best to speak up against acts of corruption; as Transparency International researches point to females as the worst affected by the canker.

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Where lies the hope?

The state of affairs of our nation is a cause of worry and concern to every concerned citizen. This worries naturally raises the question, where lies the hope of this country as corruption engulf the entire social, political, economic and cultural institutions of this country; the very institutions mandated to make things right for our own betterment.

The family which is the basic unit of the society is mandated to procreate and socialize its members to become well-disciplined citizens of the society. However, the family itself needs to be socialized and disciplined as corruption hovers and smells around the family.

Most parents relent and neglect their responsibility towards their children. Parents who are role models for their children engage in smoking, drinking and barbaric behavior in the house.

Parents who are to inculcate moral values in the children are rather demoralized, hence losing the moral courage to shape the behavior of their children. The family is corrupt because its very foundation was or is fornication which results in pregnancy and that translates into the family with a single parent and abandoned children. So I ask, where lies the hope?

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