‘Follow through corruption cases until resolved’
A management consultant, Rev. John Nkum, has stressed the need for Ghanaians to be sensitised to follow through corruption cases for their complete and logical resolution.
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He said media follow-ups on such cases to their logical conclusion should be treated as importantly as reporting the news when they break.
Mr Nkum made the remarks during an interaction with journalists at a focus group discussion for responses on the work of the Ghana Anti-Corruption Action Campaign (GACC).
It was to afford the consultant the opportunity to interact with major partners of GACC, of which the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) is a member.
The interaction, which also served as a review, was also to help in developing a new strategy to inform the operations of the coalition for the next five years.
Mr Nkum said he would encourage engagements among GACC partners to ensure that skilled journalists followed up on cases until their closure.
Issues and concerns
It came to light at the discussions that advocacy on the canker and the work of GACC had made public knowledge of corruption fairly well known among Ghanaians.
Participants opined that the GACC’s advocacy was good and helped in informing and sensitising citizens to the vice.
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Journalists, however, urged the GACC to invest in building their capacity for thorough follow-ups and exhaustive reporting on corruption issues.
They also urged the coalition to provide information in easy formats on the GACC, as well as the National Anti-Corruption Action Plan (NACAP) for better engagements of the public.
Action plan
A Senior Research Officer of GACC, Mr Bright Sowu, after the interaction indicated that they would take note of the role of the media under the NACAP and work to ensure that all partners were on the same page on the national action plan.
Responding to enquiries about delays in sourcing for expert opinions when a story broke, Mr Sowu explained that often, they were preoccupied with gathering information to remain accurate in their comments.
Context
The GACC brings together civil society, the private sector and governmental institutions in mobilising information, opinions and views on corruption to fight the social vice.
Its members include the Centre for Democratic Development, Ghana (CDD), the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), Ghana Conference of Religions for Peace (GCRP), Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) and the Private Enterprises Federation (PEF).