Let’s shun, fight corruption in all its forms - GLOWA

Ghanaians have been called upon to help fight corruption holistically as issues of corruption are multifaceted and cannot be handled by a single entity.

The Technical Advisor of the Global Action for Women Empowerment (GLOWA), a Ho-based non-governmental organisation(NGO), Mr Daniel Alimo, who made the call said there was the need to shun corruption in all its forms since it impeded business growth, escalated costs and posed serious legal and reputational risks.

He also maintained that corruption hindered the development of fair market structures and also undermined fair competition, which in turn deterred investment.

Mr Alimo made these remarks at the launch of an anti-corruption project, entitled: “PWDs in Focus: Where is our three per cent District Assemblies Common Fund?,” funded by STAR-Ghana at Poase-Cement in the Kadjebi District in the Volta Region.

Anti-corruption project in 5 communities

He said the anti-corruption project would be implemented in five communities each within the Kadjebi, Akatsi-South and Krachi-East Districts from April 2018 to February 2019.

Mr Alimo stated that research conducted by GLOWA in the said districts revealed that 80 per cent of Persons With Disability (PWDs) knew nothing about the PWDs fund, while albinos and children with intellectual disabilities received no support from the fund.

He said the organisation intended to increase the access of PWDs to the fund by at least 20 per cent after the implementation of the project.

The District Chief Executive (DCE) for Kadjebi, Mr Maxwell Kofi Asiedu, said politically, corruption was a major obstacle to democracy and the rule of law whereby offices and institutions lost their legitimacies.

He added that corruption undermined people’s trust in the political system, its institutions and its leaders.

Mr Asiedu, therefore, called on people placed in leadership positions to be transparent because it was the surest way of guarding against corruption.

Resist, reject and report corrupt acts

The Kadjebi District Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Mr Daniel Agbesi Latsu, urged the populace to help make corruption a high risk no-gain venture.

Mr Latsu, who spoke on the topic: “The role of citizens in fighting corruption”, called on the citizenry to resist, reject and report corrupt acts to the appropriate offices for investigation.

He named the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), police, Special Prosecutor’s Office, Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), among others, as some of the offices they could report to.

The Kadjebi District Director of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Mr Eric Arthur Fynn, called on individuals, media and civil society organisations to help combat corruption.

Mr Fynn, who delivered a paper on the topic: “Fighting corruption within the framework of NACAP,” said the National Anti-Corruption Action Plan (NACAP) was developed to address the problem of corruption in Ghana in a more strategic and coordinated manner.