NCCE holds accountability dialogue in Tamale

The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) will hold the 4th National Accountability, Rule of law and Anti-Corruption (ARAP) dialogue on ‘Whistle Blowing’ mechanism in Tamale in the Northern Region to engage, educate and empower the people to report cases of corruption on Tuesday, November 19, 2019.

About 200 participants from decentralised ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), Faith-Based Organisations (FBOs), traditional authorities, women and youth groups, media practitioners; Persons with Disability (PWD), and representatives of development partners among others are expected to take part in the event.

The Chairperson of the NCCE, Ms Josephine Nkrumah, who disclosed this in an interview with Graphic Online, said it had become necessary for the NCCE to organise such dialogue to enable the commission to boost the confidence level of Ghanaians to enable them to apply whistleblowing mechanisms when reporting crimes and corruption.

Whistleblower Act

According to Ms Nkrumah, the Whistleblower Act (Act 720), which was passed by Parliament in 2006, has not been used effectively by the citizenry.

She said the Act is to help improve the nation’s ability to fight corruption and other forms of unlawful conduct that negatively affect the country’s development.

She said there was therefore, the need to bring all the stakeholders on board to assess public knowledge on the issue.

Seeking of views

‘‘What the NCCE sought to do is the seek views from participants towards reducing corruption, improving public accountability, and ensuring effective environmental governance in the country.

‘‘Although the law encourages and support individuals to ‘blow the whistle’ on unlawful or other illegal conduct or corrupt practices of other persons, it is believed that most citizens hesitate to blow the whistle because of fear of victimisation’’, the Chairperson said.

She said the dialogue will also seek to encourage the citizenry to report incidents of corruption and also to determine whether the strategies that would be adopted to combat corruption in Ghana would be useful.

Ms Nkrumah said the programme which is supported by the European Union (EU), would focus on: what is whistleblowing, what laid down procedures should be followed by a whistleblower, differentiation between a whistleblower and an informant; measures put in place to protect the identity of a whistleblower, and where to report specific cases of corruption.

Other areas targeted for discussions include the institutional processes for reporting and investigating cases of corruption, how to seek redress with institutions when reported cases are not properly dealt with and the role of access to information in whistleblowing.

Resource persons for the dialogue are Mr Joseph A. Whittal, Commissioner, Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Mr James Oppong-Boanuh, the Inspector General of Police Service and Mrs Yvonne Atakora Obuabisa, Director of Public Prosecutions, Ministry of Justice and Attorney General’s Department.