CJA calls for speedy prosecution of former officials

THE Committee for Joint Action (CJA) has urged the Mills administration to fast-track procedures to prosecute all members of the past administration suspected to have involved themselves in corrupt practices after proper investigations.
It further urged President John Evans Atta Mills to honour his campaign promise of probity, accountability and integrity to the good people of Ghana who had been waiting anxiously for five months into his administration.
A leading member of the CJA, Mr Kwesi Pratt Junior, who made the call at a panel discussion yesterday, questioned the delay and hesitation by President Mills to take immediate steps in honouring his promise to Ghanaians.
“We want to see probity, accountability and integrity. President Mills must ensure this. Five months into his office, we are still waiting,” he stated.
He said some corrupt officials were still insisting on the payment of their ex gratia, knowing very well that their drivers and relatives in the villages had no access to potable water and adequate health care.
He said corruption was embedded in the fabric of the Ghanaian society, to the extent that the hierarchy of the Judiciary was believed to be under investigations for corruption.
Mr Pratt, who is also the editor of the Insight newspaper, blamed the hierarchy of the Police Administration for the corruption in the lower ranks of the service, stating that the corruption at the top was a reflection of the break down of the command.
He stated that after eight years of maladministration, ministers of state were proud owners of $300,000 houses and $100,000 cars, adding “All of a sudden they have become multi-millionaires and when we question them about the source of their wealth they ask us why.”
Mr Pratt said if Ghanaians did not sit up and call for probity and accountability, they would not get access to potable water, health care and other basic amenities they were yearning for.
The Executive Secretary of the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), Mr Vitus A. Azeem, also urged the government to speed up the passage of the Right to Information Bill, taking into consideration the changes suggested by civil society actors.
He said the law would ensure transparency and accountability and hence serve as an effective anti-corruption tool, while complementing the anti-corruption laws already in existence.
Mr Azeem, in his definition of corruption, said it had been defined leaving many with the impression that it was only people who occupied public offices who were capable of abusing their office or power.
He categorically stated that the definition did not make any allowance for other forms of corrupt activities, including market rigging, insider trading, tax dodging, non-disclosure of conflict of interest and illicit part funding.
According to him, corruption encompassed abuses by government officials such as embezzlement and nepotism, as well as abuses linking public and private actors such as bribery, extortion, influence peddling and fraud.
Mr Azeem described corruption as being pervasive which had to do with motive and opportunity that usually came about when there were weak systems or institutions of accountability, lack of checks and balances, as well as a general state of moral decadence.
He stated that research findings always pointed to the fact that corruption was a serious problem in Ghana, adding that from 1999 to 2008 the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) had pointed to the fact that Ghana was far from winning the fight against corruption as a nation.
Attributing the causes of corruption to lack of political will, Mr Azeem said, “All previous leaders of the country have at least paid ‘lip service’ to its eradication.”
He said in 2001 former President Kufuor declared a zero tolerance for corruption and promised to promulgate a code of conduct to guide political appointees and consequently established an office within the Presidency to monitor it, “yet corruption continued to be attributed to his administration and some of his officials”.
A former General Secretary of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Professor Nii Noi Dowuona, said the lessons learnt from the 2008 general election should guide politicians not to take Ghanaians for granted and, therefore, urged the political class to sit up.
He stressed the need for the political leadership to rise to the occasion, considering the limited resources of the country, compared to the increasing population and the rate at which the limited resources were being looted.