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Resource OSP with adequate funding to fight corruption – CSOs to Akufo-Addo

A group of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) working on anti-corruption and good governance issues in the country are calling on President Akufo-Addo to make the necessary funding available to resource the Office of the Special Prosecutor to execute his mandate effectively.

The group of CSOs on October 26, 2021, had a meeting with the Special Prosecutor (SP), Mr. Kissi Agyebeng, at his office at Ridge, Accra.

The meeting, called at the instance of the SP was to deliberate on how best the OSP can work with CSOs to engender a public space where corruption can be made a high risk and low reward activity.

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Martin Amidu: Anti-corruption CSOs’ nomination onto OSP board mustn’t be rigged again

The public must be reminded that the three-year mandate of the Governing Board of the Office of the Special Prosecutor expired at midnight on 11″ July 2021 without word from the President or the Office to the public.

On Thursday, 12th July 2018 the Board of the Governing Board of the Office of the Special Prosecutor was sworn in by the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, supposedly to make “the anti-corruption body now, fully ready to execute its mandate” (July 12, GNA).

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Procurement is the number one corruption risks – OCP

Madam Andie Okon, a Community Capacity Building Manager of Open Contracting Partnership (OCP), says procurement is the number one of all corruption risks with 57 per cent of foreign cases of bribery attributed to public contracts.

She, therefore, called for Open Contracting Data Standards in such engagements to curb corruption.

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CSOs urge Supreme Court to deal with two suits

…Encourage Domelevo to go to CHRAJ

The Coalition of Civil Society Organisations Against Corruption has requested the Supreme Court of Ghana to determine two cases pending before it on the constitutionality of the Auditor General’s forced ‘accumulated leave’ by President Akufo-Addo.

The group contends that the crux of the issues raised in the two suits are relevant regardless of the current state of affairs; that is the forced retirement of Auditor General Daniel Yaw Domelevo. 

“The suits border on the broader issues of whether or not a President could exercise administrative authority over Independent Constitutional Bodies (ICBs). Therefore, it is important for the Supreme Court to deal with these suits expeditiously to prevent any such actions by a future President,” said Dr. Kojo Pumpuni Asante, Director, Advocacy and Policy Engagement at the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana).

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Agyapa deal: We’ve had very little pay from prosecutions in corruption fight – H.K Prempeh

Executive Director of the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) Ghana says it’s about time the country explores other anti-corruption procedures as investments in prosecutions and prosecutorial bodies have not really paid off.

Professor Henry Kwasi Prempeh said Ghana’s over dependence on prosecutorial processes as a means of fighting corruption have not been satisfactory and thus has called for a review to include other anti-corruption procedures as well.

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Private citizens should be allowed to prosecute corruption cases – Prempeh

Private citizens in Ghana should be permitted to prosecute corruption cases in Ghana, Professor Henry Kwesi Prempeh, the Director of the Centre for Democratic Development-Ghana (CDD-Ghana), has said.

He noted that this will help in the fight against corruption especially when the institutions tasked to fight corruption seem not be to be doing enough on this development.

In most advanced countries with best practices, he said, private individuals are allowed to prosecute corrupt officials.

“Why can’t I take my case to court prosecute the case myself. It happens in other country,” Professor Prempeh said during the Ghana National Forum on Political Party Manifesto, organized by Media General in partnership with Penplusbytes on Wednesday October, 14.

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Agyapa deal: Focus on the valuation not corruption angle – Franklin Cudjoe to Special Prosecutor

President of IMANI Ghana, Franklin Cudjoe has suggested that the Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu be more focused on the assessment of the controversial Agyapa royalties deal, instead of looking solely at the corruption aspect.

According to him, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have, on several occasions, proven the real value of the royalties, pegging it between $2.5 billion to $3.5 billion.

Taking to his Facebook page to make his submission on the topic, Franklin Cudjoe said “I sincerely hope the Special Prosecutor is focused on the valuation of AGYAPA royalties. That is the most important issue, not the ‘corruption’ angle he seems to be interested in because frankly, he could simply pass the deal should documents he claims he hasn’t had, be handed to him. He must speak to the technical matter of valuation. CSOs have demonstrated enormous technical competence to show that the real value of the royalties for the assets under consideration is between $2.5bn to $3.5bn not the proposed and contracted $1bn by the finance ministry. I am watching the SP paaaa… He can reach out”.

His comments come after the Finance Ministry announced on Monday, October 5, 2020, the suspension of the launch of the Initial Public Offering (IPO) of the Agyapa Royalties deal.

In a letter signed by the Deputy Finance Minister, Charles Adu-Boahen and addressed to the Office of the Special Prosecutor, it noted that the decision was resultant of a pending completion of a corruption risk assessment by the Office of the Special Prosecutor.

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Bribery by foreign companies threatening poverty reduction efforts – World Bank

If unchecked, corruption poses a threat to reducing poverty and supporting shared prosperity, the World Bank has said in a paper titled ‘Working in partnership is key to fighting corruption’ released on Wednesday, September 23, 2020.

The Bretton Woods institution said corruption has long been recognized as a major impediment to development.

From massive theft of state assets to the low-level corruption that erodes productivity and weakens service delivery, corruption steals from the poor and erodes progress, it said.

“Corruption takes many forms. It is the foreign company that pays kickbacks or bribes to get preferential treatment, leaving poor countries with devalued goods or services.

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Agyapa Deal Still Has Unanswered Questions; Suspend It For More Discussions – 22 CSOs

The alliance of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) working in the extractive, anti-corruption and good governance areas have reiterated the call for the government to suspend the Agyapa Mineral Royalty deal for a further national conversation on it.
According to the CSOs, there are still “important questions that require a national conversation to be addressed.”

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CHRAJ urges Domelevo to file complaint over forced proceed-on-leave directive

Commissioner for Human Rights and Administrative Justice has described as unfortunate the Executive directive to the Auditor-General, Daniel Domelevo, to proceed on leave.

The comments by Joseph Whittal on the sidelines of the launch of the Citizens Anti-Corruption Manifesto last week adds to the plethora of criticisms that has hit the presidential directive forcing the Auditor-General to take his accumulated 167 days’ leave.

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