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Corruption denying the masses of development – CHRAJ Director

By
Yussif Ibrahim, GNA

Nyinahin (Ash), Sept. 11, GNA – The
developmental needs of Ghanaians could easily be met if stringent measures are
put in place to check the leakage of public funds into private pockets by
successive governments and state institutions mandated to fight the menace.

Mr. Peter Asuah, the Atwima Nwabiagya South
Municipal Director of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice
(CHRAJ) who made the observation, said corruption had become an enterprise
denying the masses of the needed development they deserved.

He said the whopping $3billion which was
lost to corruption every year in the country, could have been used to fund most
of the projects that governments had been contracting loans to undertake over
the years.

He was speaking at a community durbar
organized by the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) at Ahwiafutu, a
farming community in the Atwima Mponua District to sensitize the people on the
effects of corruption to national development.

The durbar formed part of the
Accountability, Rule of law and Anti-corruption Programme (ARAP), which is
being implemented by the NCCE with funding from the European Union (EU).

Mr. Asuah said it was very common to see the
execution of shoddy projects with a short lifespan across the country because
some people had kept part of funds budgeted for such projects.

He said it was unacceptable for a few people
to enrich themselves with national resources at the expense of the citizenry and
charged the people to take keen interest in the fight against corruption.

They should not look away when they chance
upon the perpetration of corruption but report them to expose the rot in
society in the interest of national development.

He reminded them of the whistle blower’s law
that protected citizens who expose corrupt practices and charged them to join
the fight as a civic responsibility.

Mr. Simon Kwesi Padi, the District
Programmes Officer of NCCE, said ARAP formed part of reforms geared towards the
fight against corruption being spearheaded by the NCCE and other state
agencies.

He said it was imperative to engage the
people at the community level in order to reach out to more people to achieve
the desired results in the fight against corruption.

He entreated them to show interest in
exposing corruption even at the community level to build their confidence to
contribute to the fight against the social canker at all levels of national
endeavours.

GNA

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