The New Patriotic Party(NPP) Central Regional Vice Chairman, Joe Donkor says the only way to combat corruption in the country is to do a constitutional amendment to take some powers from the president.
According to him, the winner takes all politics ongoing in the country is one that is not healthy for a democratic country like Ghana and does not help in the fight against corruption because every elected president has the power to sack various institutional heads and replace them with party sympathizers when they assume office.
Joe Donkor opined that the 1992 constitution grants the president so much power and this he believes is not good in the fight against corruption.
“Our problem as a country is that, the constitution has granted the president so much powers and this is not helping us fight corruption. We need to have an amendment to our constitution so that some powers can be taken from the president. This winner takes all politics is not good for us,” he said on Agoo TV’s Yensempa with Obaasima Serwaa Akoto.
He explained even though the constitution had provided many laws, it is obvious that citizens are not adhering to them and this shows the need for a constitutional review and reform if we desire to see the prevalence of the rule of law in the country.
According to him, if the constitution is reviewed and amendments are made, the country will see growth in the fight against corruption because elected governments will be able to supervise and arrest all culprits of crimes, and would not have to worry about covering up corruption cases because they were committed by party sympathizers.
His comments comes on the back of revelation in the attorney general’s 2015 report that over 2.7 million Ghana Cedis cannot be accounted for by The Economic and Organized crime office(EOCO).
The central Region first vice chairman of the NPP said he is of the strong conviction that if the special prosecutor’s office is constituted and operates independently void of political participation in its affairs, the office was going to live up to expectation and help fight corruption amongst the various state institutions.
By: Nana Kwabena Agyare
