The Constitution Review Committee has recommended the creation of a standalone Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission as part of proposed reforms to strengthen Ghana’s anti-corruption architecture.
Presenting the committee’s final report to President John Dramani Mahama at the Jubilee House on Monday, December 22, the committee’s chair, Professor H. Kwasi Prempeh, said the recommendation seeks to rationalise the roles of existing anti-corruption institutions and improve efficiency in the fight against corruption.
He noted that the current system places an undue burden on the Office of the Attorney-General, which he said undermines its capacity to adequately handle other major constitutional and international legal responsibilities.
Prof. Prempeh explained that the proposed commission would consolidate anti-corruption responsibilities currently spread across bodies such as the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), and related institutions, to ensure better coordination and clearer accountability.
“So CHRAJ has some anti-corruption work, not prosecution, we think CHRAJ can just focus on human rights and Ombudsman work. There is plenty of that for CHRAJ to do.
“So, we will take CHRAJ’s anti-corruption mandate together with what the OSP and other agencies currently do and create out of that mix a new commission which will then handle cases of corruption, so that the AG can be freed to handle the international arbitration and the big constitutional cases,” he stated.
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