By Iddi
Yire, GNA
Accra, Sept. 18, GNA – Mr Vitus Azeem, an
anti-corruption activist, on Tuesday called on the Government to resource
anti-corruption institutions; such as the newly established Office of the
Special Prosecutor (OSP), to effectively combat corruption in the country.
He noted that institutions mandated to fight
corruption were not receiving enough support to make them research into new
ways of preventing corruption; as such, their existence would amount to nothing
if they were not properly resourced.
He said the OSP was a special institution,
which would carry out an assignment that was not palatable to many people, and
lots of efforts would be made to frustrate the Office; hence, requisite
resources including offices across the regions and human resource should be
provided.
Mr Azeem made this call in an interview with
the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the sideline of a roundtable on Fiscal Transparency
and Accountability Demands of Civil Society Organization (CSOs) to Government.
The roundtable, which was organised by the
Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC), discussed Civil Society’s fiscal
transparency and accountability demands on the government, the extent of
government response and the way forward.
The roundtable was part of a project dubbed
“Citizens Action for Public Accountability and Pro-Poor Spending,” which is
being implemented by the GACC and the Economic Governance Platform with support
from OXFAM in Ghana.
The project aims at creating public awareness
on the budget and to mobilize citizens to demand accountability and fairness in
the fiscal regime towards addressing inequality.
Mr Azeem said in calling for the resourcing of
the OSP, government must as well focus on other anti-corruption agencies, which
already exist but have not been properly resourced.
He also reiterated the need to empower the
citizenry to help fight corruption by voicing out corrupt acts.
Mr Azeem, who doubles as the Project
Consultant, said it was imperative for every citizen to join the campaign
against corruption by not only reporting corrupt practices but ensuring that,
the culprits were named, shamed and punished.
Mr Franklin Oduro, a member of the GACC
Governing Board said there was need for a holistic national effort involving
all stakeholders to curb corruption.
He said the National Anti-Corruption Action
Plan (NACAP) stated clearly that “we could win the fight against
corruption if we collectively fight it”.
He noted however that, it was known that there
were levels of actions required to achieve the fight against corruption.
He said these included preventive measures,
which highlights laws and institutions that makes it difficult for people to
involve themselves in corrupt practices; thereby strengthening these laws and
institutions and making them more transparent.
Mr Oduro, who is also the Director of
Programmes at the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), said
another factor was, the commitment to punish culprits to serve as a deterrent
to others; stating that “but unfortunately we have not done that very well
as a country”.
He said among the challenges had been the lack
of commitment on the part of governments, and particularly leaders in the
nation’s anti-corruption institutions.
Mr Oduro said the forum would enable the
Coalition to reflect on the various Demands that CSOs had made and how to
access those that have been successful as well as those still not addressed.
He said one of the lessons learnt was to move
a step further to draw some strategies to inform the other areas that were not
successful.
Mrs Beauty Emefa Narteh, GACC Executive
Secretary, said putting preventive measures in place was essential in the fight
against corruption.
She said the institutions mandated to serve as
anti-corruption agencies had not been able to perform well due to the
challenges they were having such as their human resource capacity and
independence.
Madam Elizabeth Abena Nkrumah, Executive
Director, Financial Accountability and Transparency (FAT), Africa, also
underscored the need for CSOs to make the necessary follow-ups to ensure their
demands were addressed.
The roundtable demands discussed include: a
call for a more aggressive domestic tax revenue mobilization; and a call for
independent bodies to investigate payment practices in Parliament was also
articulated.
Others are a call to translate commitments
from the United Kingdom Anti -Corruption Summit into real actions and a call
for the empowerment of citizens.
GNA