Dr. Kojo Pumpuni Asante, the director of advocacy and policy engagement at the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), has stated that in order to combat corruption in the nation, those in positions of political authority must be prepared to uphold the law.
He said that the pervasive corruption-related actions carried out with impunity were a result of a lack of political will.
Dr. Asante observed that the battle against illicit mining, for example, had failed because there was not enough political will to bring those responsible to justice while addressing a session on combating corruption in Sub-Saharan Africa yesterday in Accra.
Forum
The goal of the meeting was to ensure that countries in the sub-region could combat corruption effectively by strengthening anti-corruption institutions.
It was sponsored by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, an advocacy group dedicated to liberty, justice, and solidarity, and organized by the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA).
According to Dr. Asante, unchecked corruption poses an existential threat to people's lives, the nation's economy, and its democracy.
In order to defeat the canker, he urged greater cooperation between the media and civil society organizations in the battle against corruption.
As part of initiatives to combat corruption, Dr. Asante suggested the eradication of conflicts of interest, nepotism, and any loopholes in the system.
legislative intent
Paul Hoffman, the director of the South African-based non-governmental organization (NGO) Accountability Now, urged Ghana and other African nations to make sure that there was political will in the battle against corruption.
Without political resolve, he claimed, the battle against corruption, a problem that affects human rights, would remain a phantom.
He asserted that "a corrupt state is incapable of providing social services to its citizens."
Four strategies
Mr. Hoffman identified four key strategies to make sure the battle against corruption in African nations was successful.
They include creating specialized organizations to combat only corruption, providing personnel with adequate training so they can handle corrupt cases effectively, guaranteeing the independence of corrupt institutions, providing them with sufficient funding to operate, and ensuring the tenure of office for officials of the institutions.
He emphasized that "no corrupt system ever lasts because it produces nothing."
Institutions created to combat corruption, according to Mr. Hoffman, should be removed from executive authority and subjected to parliamentary oversight since the existence of opposing political parties in the House may act as a check on these institutions.
Galamsey
Regarding the fight against galamsey as a means of eradicating corruption, Mr. Hoffman was of the opinion that the fight could be successful if there was political will to put the recommendations in the initial reports that were made to the government on how to best stop the threat in its tracks into action.
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