Anti-corruption campaign launched
A new national anti-corruption campaign has been launched in Accra, with a call on Ghanaians to wage a relentless attack on the canker and save the nation from huge financial and human losses.
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The campaign, which is being spearheaded by the Centre for Freedom and Accuracy (CFA), a civil society organisation, in collaboration with Tiger Eye, a private investigative body, urges Ghanaians to shun corruption in all its manifestations and celebrate the virtues of honesty and integrity.
Mounting the initiative on the slogan, “Say no to corruption”, the anti-corruption campaigners seek to “name and shame” people who indulge in corrupt practices and “name and honour” those who resist same.
Speakers at the ceremony recounted the negative impact of corruption on the country’s economic growth and development.
The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mrs Marrieta Brew Appiah Oppong, launched a newspaper – The Scandal – to serve as a platform to vigorously prosecute the anti-corruption agenda.
She said the launch of the campaign marked the dawn of a new era in the fight against corruption and promised the campaigners her ministry’s support to their noble cause.
Mrs Oppong wondered why Ghanaians professed to be very religious people and yet corruption abounded in the country.
That puzzle notwithstanding, she had hope for the future, saying, “We have not lost the fight against corruption; there is hope in Ghana.”
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The President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Ghana, the Most Rev Joseph Osei-Bonsu, who was the guest speaker, said the lack of integrity bred corruption.
He urged journalists, traditional rulers, politicians, security officials, religious leaders and public officials to eschew corruption and make Ghana a better place to live.
A former Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Mr Justice Francis Emile Short, who chaired the ceremony, said efforts at combating corruption in the country had largely been ineffective because they had been more of rhetoric than action.
He said the acceptance of corruption as a norm in society and the lack of political will to deal with the canker had fostered a culture of impunity.
Mr Justice Short cited the inaction on the National Anti-Corruption Action Plan, which he said had been “gathering dust” in Parliament for the past two years, as evidence of the lack of political will to combat corruption.
He called for collaboration among all the anti-corruption bodies to unleash a more effective assault on the canker.
The Chief Executive Officer of the CFA, Mr Andrew Awuni, said the current state of corruption in the country was so messy that there was an urgent need for all Ghanaians to join forces to clear the mess.
He said the campaign was non-partisan and not targeted at any group of people, apart from those who were corrupt.
For his part, the ace investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, said his mantra in the anti-corruption campaign was to “name, shame and jail”.
He said Tiger Eye Private Investigators had turned their radar on the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), saying, “In the coming months, it’s not going to be nice for the DVLA.”
Story: Kofi Yeboah
Writer’s Email: kofi.yeboah@graphic.com.gh