Attorney General Godfred Yeboah Dame is confident a new Conduct of Public Officers Bill to be presented to Parliament will boost the fight against corruption.
This bill, he explains, is to strengthen the role of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to investigate various matters involving Public Officers.
This includes issues of conflict of interest, non-declaration of assets, among others.
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A new report of the Auditor-General shows that grand corruption and waste of public funds is not going away.
Among a raft of findings is the indictment of the Honorary Consul General at Ghana’s Washington Mission and Houston Consulate for not being able to account for visa fees totalling US$354,760.00 (or two million cedis at prevailing exchange rates).
The Free SHS Secretariat is also accused of misapplying more than nineteen (19) million cedis of its allocations.
In addition, the Auditor-General says Ex-Tourism Minister Catherine Afeku is keeping three official vehicles despite leaving office.
MP Queenstar Pokuah Sawyerr is accused of spending GH¢39,000.00 of her MP allocation on non-existent works.
These are contained in the “Report of the Auditor-General on the Public Accounts of Ghana: Ministries, Departments and other Agencies for the year ended 31 December, 2020.”
The Office of the Auditor-General, under the hand of Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu, Acting Auditor-General transmitted this report to the Speaker of Parliament on 11 June, 2021.
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The document we focusing on is the “Report of the Auditor-General on the Public Accounts of Ghana: Ministries, Departments and other Agencies for the year ended 31 December, 2020.”
The Office of the Auditor-General, under the hand of Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu, Acting Auditor-General transmitted this report to the Speaker of Parliament on 11 June, 2021.
The report states that when the Auditor-General and his team set out to Audit accounts of MDAs to ascertain the state of their accounts at the close of the year 2020, they were guided by certain objectives.
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Zimbabwe’s anti-graft body, the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) has launched a new operation code-named “Wakazvitenga Sei?” (Shona language, means “How did you acquire your property?”)
Those who fail to account for their wealth will forfeit it to the state, ZACC chairperson Loice Matanda-Moyo told the government-controlled Sunday Mail newspaper.
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Director of Advocacy and Policy Engagement at the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development says sanctions the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has failed to create and enforce have made room for its operations to be run on discretion.
According to Dr Kojo Asante, this does not help in the fight against corruption nor the promotion of equality before the law.
“Since the propagation of the 1992 constitution, CHRAJ is yet to elaborate on sanctions. It does not promote any deterrence effect or prevention of corrupt acts or any acts that are seen as misbehavior in the public service,” Dr. Asante said on JoyNews’ Newsfile, Saturday.
Two anti-corruption experts have said the recent order by an Accra High Court for the seizure of assets of persons convicted in the NCA case is a significant deterring anti-corruption measure.
Overall, they view Justice Eric Kyei Baffour’s judgement as the clearest indication yet of the application of laws to combat corruption.
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A private legal practitioner and anti-corruption expert, Korieh Duodu, has said the decision by the court in the NCA case provides the clearest indication yet of the application of laws to combat corruption. In an interview with Corruption Watch he explained the decision also showed how state agencies could work together to ensure corruption cases are effectively investigated, prosecuted, accused persons convicted and the proceeds of the crime potentially recovered.
“Well, I think that this is a reasoned and solid judgement, delivered after a case has been investigated and prosecuted over two-and-a-half years…And I would say that this is a significant case with important ramifications in Ghana’s fight against corruption because it has a number of powerful features to it which should stand Ghana in good stead in recovering stolen funds in future.”
The full interview with Corruption Watch’s Frederick Asiamah is to be broadcast on Corruption Watch’s podcast soon.In the same podcast, Mrs Linda Ofori-Kwafo, Executive Director of Ghana Integrity Initiative, views the judgement as a shot in the arm for anti-corruption crusaders. “I think it’s a boost and reassurance that there is hope and that if we continue to do the right things we are likely to get the results that we are looking for.”
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The NPP government’s first attempt at prosecuting alleged corrupt persons when it took office was when the Attorney General’s (AG) Department arraigned before court, persons allegedly involved in the $6million National Communications Authority (NCA) corruption case. This was in December 2017.
https://corruptionwatchghana.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/nca-min.png286407adminhttps://corruptionwatchghana.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/CW-logo-100by80.pngadmin2020-05-17 16:58:582020-06-14 02:35:19Breakdown of the NCA scandal