Keep the heat on corrupt officials, Mr President

International concern is mounting over the growth in corruption, its effects on development prospects and whether current anti-corruption efforts are succeeding.

Ghana is said to be suffering from widespread corruption, in spite of the fact that the country performs better than regional averages across a number of key measurements.

But it has a robust anti-corruption framework, just that laws are inadequately enforced. Public procurement is particularly prone to corruption and bribery thrives at the central government level.

There have been a number of reports of alleged misappropriation of state funds by officials of the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) government.

Presently the former CEO and some board members of the National Communications Authority are being investigated by the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) for sharing $4 million intended for spy ware among themselves.

The US Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Robert Jackson, has had cause to complain that corruption levels in the country have reached a point where US companies looking to do business here have mostly been frustrated by requests for the payment of “facilitation fee” – which he simply described as another language for bribe.

There is a long-held perception that many government projects are bloated for purposes of corruption, causing the state to lose millions of dollars.

But it is reassuring to hear President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s promise to crack the whip on corrupt officials, stating that public officials found to be engaged in acts of corruption will not be protected in his administration.

He was blunt and straightforward: "I want to assure you that, so long as I have the opportunity and I have breath and power, I am going to do something about it, so we can stop the leakages. I know that if we stop the leakages, we will have the money to do our own development.”

In this regard, the Daily Graphic welcomes the move by the President to set up the Office of the Special Prosecutor to go after corrupt officials.

We cannot fathom how a simple goat theft can attract a very severe custodial sentence, while professional thieves in coat and tie who have denied us resources for development are let off the hook on technical legal trivialities.

The Daily Graphic encourages the government to get them, try them, crush them and throw them into jail; we are sick and tired of this canker of corruption which undermines economic growth, creates institutional mismanagement and hurts society by holding back economic development at all levels.

We also need proper controls in the disbursement of public funds. There must be adequate reporting lines, checks and balances, due processes, due diligence, integrity, probity, transparency and accountability.

 It is only when these measures are strictly adhered to and rigorously pursued that we can confidently say we are fighting corruption.