The Government has expressed strong reservations about the slow pace of investigations into alleged misuse of funds by state institutions.
This follows demands by pressure group Committee for Joint Action (CJA) for President J.E.A. Mills to take steps to swiftly recover all stolen monies or misapplied state assets.
The CJA, at a press conference Thursday said several millions of cedis were lost through financial impropriety between 2007 and 2010.
But speaking to Joy News, a Deputy Information Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, explained that investigations were ongoing except they were not moving fast enough.
“We are worried at the slow pace these processes take,” he said adding, the Public Accounts Committee was looking at the Auditor General’s Report between 2001 to 2003.
“We want to be very, very quick in allowing these Auditor General’s Report to go through the processes and then exacting the needed punishment so that it will serve as a deterrent to other persons who are in public service,” he said.
He however pointed out that the problem was deep-rooted and that the government would need some time to fix the situation.
Mr. Okudzeto Ablakwa said “It will appear that the problem is a systemic problem. Now it is deep-rooted. It is going to take us sometime to really fix the system and turn things around. We will not pass the buck, we are taking the bull by the horn. We will like to appeal to the good people of this country to trust us to fix this systemic problem, plug the loopholes and make sure that the maladministration and diversions stop”
The Deputy Information Minister said it would be unfair to suggest that the government was not doing enough to curb corruption.