Managing Editor of the Insight Newspaper and leading member of the Committee for Joint Action (CJA) Kwesi Pratt Jnr. has challenged President John Mills to fight the financial impropriety which is being perpetrated under his watch.
According to Kwesi Pratt, he has personally known President Mills for over 30 years and can vouch for his personal sincerity and incorruptibility but allowing corruption to flourish under his watch leaves much to be desired.
Mr Pratt was speaking on the sidelines of a press conference that was addressed by the Committee for Joint Action outlining the huge amounts of monies lost at the Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
Almost 3 billion Ghana cedis cannot be accounted for in 2009 alone and about 530 million lost in 2008, all due to financial irregularities and misappropriation. The figures were contained in the Auditor General’s report on the Public Accounts of 2009.
Mr Pratt urged President Mills to ensure that investigations are carried out to smoke out persons perpetrating these corrupt practices. “I have known Professor John Atta Mills for well over 30 years; I can vouch for his sincerity and his personal commitment. Indeed If I ever heard that he has personally been corrupt I will be completely shocked and yet this is the report the Auditor General has written about 2009, a year in which he was President of the republic”
“This clearly should emphasize the point that personal sincerity and commitment is not sufficient and that something else needs to happen. What are the institutions for fighting corruption, what are the institutions for insisting on accountability, probity and all of that? If those institutions do not work our personal sincerity and commitment fails in doing things that are significant”.