Posts

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Fiscal Decentralisation: Domelevo calls for district/regional budgets

Mr Daniel Yaw Domelevo, a former Auditor-General, has advocated the creation of district and regional budgets as part of efforts to ensure effective fiscal decentralisation.

That, he said, would ensure each district and region received its fair share of the national cake.

“I think over-centralisation is the major contributor to the corruption that we have in our country,” Mr Domelevo said in a virtual presentation at the maiden Domelevo Accountability Annual Lectures held in Accra.

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Corruption in Ghana: Causes and Suggestions for A Corrupt-Free Society

Since independence in 1957, Ghanaians have been plagued with corruption by which I mean taking what is not yours in an official capacity. Corruption can simply be peddling influence for monetary gains that is not gained meritoriously. Corruption can be demanding payment for services you render to people in an official government capacity.

Corruption can be outright demand for bribe, gift, largesse or what is commonly referred to as “greasing the palm, brown envelope, or gorro for the boys” All post-independence leaders in Ghana have had to deal with corruption as a national problem. One can also argue that all military coups in Ghana have cited corruption as the justification for their overthrow of the government. So why is corruption so pervasive in Ghana?

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Corrupt practices and elections

Elections constitute one of the key pillars of a vibrant democracy, where leaders assume power following transparent, free, fair and competitive polls.

Regrettably, these processes are plagued by irregularities and corruption, resulting in armed conflicts in many African countries.

Usually, citizens’ rights to participate in the electoral process are corruptly influenced, limiting their free choice of a candidate.

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Ghana: Election 2020 – the Role of Citizens and Political Parties

Come 7th December, 2020 Ghanaians will go to the polls to choose (vote) their Members of Parliament as well as a President to run the affairs of the country for the next four years. The right to vote is considered as one of the first generation rights due to its implications for individuals’ liberties. Indeed, it is through the exercise of the right to vote that citizens express their preferences for which political party or candidate should govern them and also through which citizens hold governments accountable by voting them out of power if not satisfied with their performance.

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Adwoa Safo gives NPP Delegates 3,000 cash; Insurance Policy Worth 10,000Ghs

A Corruption Watch investigation has found that Procurement Minister, Sarah Adwoa Safo, allegedly gave GHc3,000 and a GLICO Life Insurance package worth GHc10,000 to delegates in the just ended NPP primaries.

 Her challenger, Michael Aaron Oquaye Jr., Ghana’s High Commissioner to India, on the other hand, allegedly gave GHc3,000, a 32-inch Nasco flat screen television set and an Indian-made cloth to the 500 delegates. The candidates targeted 500 delegates which they needed to win. 

Last dinner to election @ residence of Mike Oquaye Jr

Meanwhile a Corruption Watch follow up check on the GLICO insurance cover found that the cover took effect three days to the election, June 17, 2020 and will expire on June 16, 2021. The “Insurance Interest” was for the benefit of “Delegates of the Dome Kwabenya Constituency

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Expand electoral colleges to reduce vote-buying – CDD-Ghana urges political parties

Senior Programmes Officer at the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) Paul Kwabena Aborampah says for Ghana to mitigate the phenomenon of vote-buying in the various electoral process, certain drastic measures would have to be taken including expanding the various electoral colleges.

Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express, he said the move would make it extremely difficult for aspirants to pay their way through the electoral process.

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Effia-Kwesimintsim Constituents Express Shock Over Vote-Buying Exposé

Some constituents in the Effia and Kwesimintsim Constituencies in the Western Region are in shocks over the parliamentary candidates of the New Patriotic Party cited in the vote-buying exposé published by Corruption Watch.

Speaking to Citi News the constituents said the investigative piece is only a confirmation of allegations they heard during the primaries.

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CDD-Ghana to petition CHRAJ over corruption allegations against Deputy MASLOC CEO

The Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) has disclosed that it will petition the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to further probe corruption allegations leveled against Deputy CEO of Masloc, Abibata Shani Mahama Zakaria.

According to the Centre’s Corruption Watch arm and it’s partners, there is evidence following investigations that the Deputy CEO of MASLOC breached the provisions of the Constitution when she distributed public funds to supporters of the governing NPP during the party’s primaries last month.

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Monetisation is a new password to Ghanaian politics – Political communications lecturer laments

A political communications lecturer at the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) has lamented the normalcy attached to vote-buying in the country’s politics.

Zakaria Tanko stated that the indifference attached to the electoral misconduct has given the perpetrators some confidence to openly confess to engaging in the act.

The lawyer speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, Wednesday described how many politicians feel the need to give voters some form of inducement to gain their mandate.

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EXPOSED: How Candidates Bought Votes in NPP Primaries

A Corruption Watch investigation has found that the deputy MASLOC CEO, Hajia Abibata Shani Mahama Zakaria facilitated the use of MASLOC money to allegedly induce delegates in the Yendi Constituency during the recent New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary primaries.

The investigation uncovered that she used state resources for her personal gain just as other candidates were also captured by Corruption Watch inducing delegates with money, machinery and appliances in seven regions monitored by Corruption Watch.

In the Yendi Constituency, aspirants even gave out food packages including a bowl of dried fish, a box of Maggi and a pack of powdered salt.

These are part of findings from widely conducted investigations that were carried out before, during and immediately after the NPP primaries in the Ashanti, Bono, Central, Eastern, Greater Accra, Northern and Western regions. 

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