Two major things, in my considered opinion, have been proven to be the major setbacks of development in Ghana and Africa at large: corruption and leadership nemesis. Both are complex subject matters one cannot exhaustively delve into with a single write up. I will leave the subject of leadership nemesis for another day.
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The former Chief Executive Officer of COCOBOD, Dr Stephen Opuni, directed that the testing period of agrochemicals and fertilizers for use by the board should be shortened.
Police Detective Chief Inspector, Thomas Prempeh Mercer, the investigator in the trial, told the court.
Mr Prempeh said Dr. Opuni in giving the directive to the scientist from the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) present at a meeting, said suppliers did take undue advantage of the monopoly they enjoyed and charged high prices on their products.
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In this blog post, we go back to 2019 to find out the status of three groundbreaking anti-corruption cases in our bid to pursue cases from start to finish, prevent impunity and ensure reform.
The cases we will be focusing on are the Galamsey Fraud case, the Missing Excavators case and the ‘Contracts for Sale‘ procurement scandal.
GALAMSEY FRAUD
On Wednesday, 27th February, 2019, ace investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas released a 27-minute documentary titled “Galamsey Fraud Part One.” In an article published on Ghana Web ahead of the premier of the documentary, Anas authored the following: “A measure to minimize the mess and menace of illegal mining in the motherland is being undermined by men mandated to manage the menace, leaving Ghana at the mercy of mercenary miners and monstrous money-grabbers within the corridors of power.”
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The acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) Ibrahim Magu, has revealed that looters now hide stolen assets in Ghana and other African countries and the commission will go after them.
Magu, who stated this in Abuja where he was inducted into the 2020 hall of fame by the Governing Council of the Chartered Institute of Public Resources Management And Politics (Ghana), said the EFCC is on the verge of signing an agreement with these countries that will allow the commission trace and recover stolen assets directly from these countries.
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George Swanzy Winful, Deputy Auditor-General of the Ghana Audit Service has blamed the heads of Human Resource (HR) Departments of the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) for the over 7,823 ghost names discovered on government’s payroll.
According to Mr Winful, the HR heads at the various MDAs do not properly validate or update the integrated payroll systems made available to them by the Audit Service.
He made the assertion in an interview on Corruption Watch, the anti-graft discussion segment of Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem morning show on Friday.
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Countries’ response to COVID-19, their long-term development, and the meeting of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are all threatened by the “invisible infection” of corruption, the Commonwealth Secretary-General has warned.
Speaking to the annual conference of the Commonwealth Caribbean Association of Integrity Commissions and Anti-Corruption Bodies (CCAICACB), Patricia Scotland laid bare the devastating impact criminal acts such as fraud, bribery, and theft have in both financial terms and in their human cost.
In her speech to the conference she highlighted that:
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There have been calls from many Civil Society Organizations and governance experts on the need to reform internal auditing in the Public Service to protect the public purse. The Auditor-General, Mr. Daniel Dormelevo recently said Internal Auditors (IA) need autonomy to end corruption in the public sector.
He emphasized that IA were the custodians of accountability, yet were weakened by “employer dominance and political interference”. IA are to serve as watchmen by safeguarding government revenue and ensuring proper disbursement of public funds.
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