Anti-graft unit set up at Presidency

President John Dramani Mahama has taken a significant step in the fight against corruption by establishing an anti-graft unit at the presidency.

This unit will be responsible for receiving complaints of corruption and forwarding them to the Attorney General's Office for swift action.

Mahama emphasised the need to end state capture, condemning the practice of politicians and their associates acquiring state assets for personal gain.

“My fight against corruption will continue with the establishment of a unit at the Presidency where complaints of graft and corruption will be received and sent to the Attorney-General,” Mahama declared during his State of the Nation Address yesterday in Parliament.

“We must end state capture; we must end the purchase and sale of state assets by members of the political class,” he stated, signalling his administration’s determination to root out corruption from the highest levels of government.

Crackdown

Mahama’s renewed anti-corruption push comes amid his ongoing crackdown on the National Service Authority (NSA) ghost names scandal where government funds were siphoned through fraudulent registrations.

The President has ordered a nationwide manhunt for the suspects, some of whom have reportedly fled the country.

“Some suspects are believed to have absconded the country already. I have directed that they be declared wanted and their assets traced until investigations are concluded,” Mahama revealed.

Scholarship scheme

Mahama also turned his attention to irregularities in Ghana’s scholarship scheme, lamenting that underprivileged students are often sidelined by the wealthy elite.

"The poor who genuinely need scholarships are unable to access them because the wealthy always crowd them out.

Our government is committed to promoting transparency, equity and sustainability in the scholarship scheme," he noted.

To ensure fairness, Mahama announced that the government would streamline the scholarship award process and publish the list of beneficiaries annually.