Ghana committed to fight corruption - Speaker of Parliament assures AU

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament has made 252 recommendations between 2021 and 2024 for improvement in the public sector financial system, the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, has disclosed. 

That was because there were weaknesses in the system that public officials took advantage of to misapply public resources to the detriment of the state.

“The system that we have in place leaks and there are many areas that we need to strengthen,” the Speaker said. 

AU delegation

In an engagement with a five-member delegation from the African Union (AU) Advisory Board Against Corruption in his office in Parliament yesterday, Mr Bagbin apprised the delegation of the workings of PAC in relation to the Auditor-General’s Report, among other things.

“The committee, since assumption of office as the Speaker in 2021, has had about 261 sittings to look at the reports from the Auditor-General and has retrieved colossal sums of money from officials that have misapplied public resources.

“So far, we have been able to retrieve a colossal sum of GH₵273.3 million from public officials that misapplied public resources as of the end of 2024,” he said.

The board, led by its Chairperson, Seynabou Ndiaye Diakhate, is in the country for a week-long working visit to assess Ghana’s progress on the fight against corruption.

The mission is part of the AU’s efforts to ensure member states adhere to the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption.

Commitment  

The Speaker assured the African Union (AU) of Ghana’s commitment to fight against corruption.

He said the Parliament of Ghana, in the exercise of its mandate, not only in terms of budgeting and protecting public purse, had made a lot of efforts in combating corruption, citing various acts enacted to accomplish that.

“Parliament has passed a lot of legislations such as the Whistleblowers Act, which we expect any person anywhere seeing things going amiss to throw light on it and bring it to the attention of not only government but also the public because we all adopted that we will not tolerate corruption,” he said.

Mr Bagbin said the Legislature had also passed the Witness Protection Act and the Right to Information Act.

“So, we have opened and thrown light and drawn the attention of everybody to the fact that whatever we generate during the course of our duty as public officers that information belongs to the taxpayer.

“And so any time a person wants the information, that person has a right and is entitled to that information to ensure that there is no darkness in the operation of government,” he said.

Anti-corruption acts

The Speaker said to ensure enforcement of anti-corruption laws, Parliament had made a number of amendments to Criminal and Other Offences (Amendment) Act and passed the Anti-Money Laundering Act, all in 2020.

“We have also passed the Special Prosecutor Act which was definitely herculean because you cannot prosecute without evidence,” the Speaker said.

Acknowledging that corruption affected critical institutions such as Parliament, he said allowing corruption to fester only led to “loss of integrity, honesty, takes away the trust of the people and how that affects governance itself”.

Corporate strategic plan

To nip the canker in the bud, he said Parliament, in its corporate strategic plan, made a number of key commitments after Parliament conducted a corruption risk assessment.

“The National Anti-Corruption Action Plan that we all worked on has given Parliament a number of areas of to focus which has been incorporated into its corporate strategic plan.

“We have restructured the institution of Parliament and revised our Standing Orders, established the structures on ethics and internal accountability in Parliament, known as the Ethics and Standard Committee, Committee on Office and Profits to protect and enhance the trust of the people in Parliament, in MPs and the governance of the country,” Speaker Bagbin said.

Commendation

For her part, Ms Diakhate said due commended Ghana for its commitment to and achievements in the fight against corruption.