President Akufo-Addo with President Alpha Conde of Guinea

Corruption must be fought with new measures – Akufo-Addo tells AU leaders

Donald Ato Dapatem Jul - 03 - 2018 , 08:12 2 minutes read

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Monday took his colleague African leaders through some concrete steps that Ghana had taken to fight corruption.

He said the latest of the efforts by the government was the appointment of a Special Prosecutor to help fight corruption, which received applause from the meeting.

He explained that aside from laws, such as the Witness Protections Act, Whistleblowers Act, the Procurement Law and other laws and policies, the government took a bold decision to set up and appoint a Special Prosecutor who was from the camp of the opposition party and a renowned anti-corruption crusader.

Read also: Amidu’s appointment should end witch-hunting cries – Akufo-Addo

AU Session

President Akufo-Addo was speaking at the 31st Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU), in Nouakchott, Mauritania.

President Akufo-Addo received commendation from the august audience during his intervention, after President Mahamudu Buhari of Nigeria had presented a paper on the way forward in fighting corruption on the continent.

Mr Buhari's presentation was in tandem with the 2018 year-long theme of the AU dubbed, "Combating Corruption: A sustainable Path to Africa's Transformation."

President Akufo-Addo said corruption was a bane to Africa's forward match to progress and that it required new and invigorated measures to ensure that the waste of public resources was halted.

Minister

Briefing the media about what transpired at the meeting, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Ms Shirely Ayokor Botchway, said institutional reforms which required that member states put in place mechanisms to collect the 0.2 per cent levy on some selected imports into their countries was also looked at.

That, she stated, was to ensure that the AU was able to generate adequate resources from its own countries to be self-financing, instead of relying on donors for the almost 70 per cent of its funding.

Appointments

On the appointment process that would lead to the selection of the best qualified persons for the position of AU Commissioner and deputies, Ms Botchway said the states agreed that the officers should be selected based on competence.