Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has reiterated government’s commitment to fighting corruption in the country.
Government, he indicated, has accordingly been resourcing all the anti-graft agencies to help with the fight against the menace.
Speaking at the 2022 Annual District Auditors Conference in Accra on Monday, the Vice President said the government is devoted to fighting corruption contrary to claims by the opposition.
“To further boost the fight against corruption, deficits in logistics and personnel of the law enforcement agencies like the Ghana Police Service and other accountability institutions are being addressed, in fact, we have increased them significantly.
“For instance, since 2017, Government has increased budgetary allocations to all the accountability institutions of State, including Parliament of Ghana, the Judiciary, CHRAJ, EOCO, the Office of the Attorney-General and Ministry of Justice, the Auditor General, the Office of the Special Prosecutor and the Ghana Police Service,” he added.
Vice President Bawumia said apart from these, the Akufo-Addo government has made a sustained, aggressive push in the fight against corruption by enacting laws, tightening existing ones, and introducing greater digitalisation in governance and the use of public funds while increasing resources allocated to the fight.
“On assuming office, corruption was prevalent in many areas such as the DVLA, where one had to pay a bribe to ‘goro boys’ in order to get a driver’s licence; same thing at the Passport Office; Customs and other officers were having a field day at the ports; it was difficult renewing ones NHIS, and for some reason, dockets kept getting ‘missing’ at the courts.
“There was inadequate funding for anti-corruption agencies; the Right to Information Law had not been passed; there was no legal backing for a beneficial assets register; and no law on Witness Protection.
“But since 2017, we have taken a number of far-reaching steps in the fight against corruption, including the implementation of a digitization agenda to disrupt corruption in the public sector.
“We have also passed a number of key laws, including the Witness Protection Act, 2018 (Act 959), the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2018 (Act 959), the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2019 (Act 989), and the Companies Act, 2019, (Act 992)”, he added.
Reminder to auditors
Commending the Auditor-General, Mr Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu, the Board of the Audit Service and staff of the Service for the “very good work being done”, Vice President Bawumia reminded the District Auditors and their colleagues across the country that when corrupt activities such as financial improprieties such as misappropriation of funds, payroll fraud, and contract and procurement irregularities take place, the expectation of the taxpayers is that the public officials who commit these financial crimes would be sanctioned according to law.
“One of the functions of the Auditor-General which can combat these financial malpractices is disallowance of any item of expenditure which is contrary to law and surcharge the amount of any expenditure disallowed.
“The public, and, in particular the Civil Society Organisations have expressed dissatisfaction that the Auditor-General has not performed this critical function effectively. I am informed that the District Auditors will use greater part of this conference to discuss this very important topical issue of disallowance and surcharge. I expect these discussions to produce outcomes to inform the processes for disallowances and surcharges.
“Nevertheless, let me assure the Auditor-General and Members of the Audit Service Board that in the same spirit of cooperation, The Government of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will continue to provide the necessary support to the Audit Service to ensure that it operates independently as the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana mandates”, he concluded
Enforcing constitutional provision
Vice President Bawumia’s assurance followed a statement by CHRAJ last week that the commission has been left helpless on many occasions in enforcing Chapter 24 of the 1992 Constitution, which focuses on the Code of Conduct for public officers.
The Code of Conduct provides that public officers comply with oaths, prevent conflict of interest situations and declare their assets and liabilities upon assumption of office.
However, the provision is flouted on many occasions; a situation CHRAJ believes breed corruption in public service.
Nonetheless, CHRAJ is confident the yet-to-be-passed conduct of Public Officers Bill (CoPO) will be an antidote to this challenge.
Speaking at an event to mark the 2022 edition of the International Anti-Corruption Day, Commissioner of CHRAJ, Joseph Whittal complained that the bill is currently pending approval of Cabinet three years since it was drafted.
“No one can deny the importance of a code of ethics for public officers in the fight against corruption. Indeed, allegations of non-compliance with Chapter 24 of the Constitution, especially conflict of interest, and non-declaration of assets and liabilities continue to dominate the media space. We all know what is happening.
“This year alone, the Commission received a record number of cases bordering on non-compliance and contravention of Chapter 24 of the Constitution. And we are currently investigating same,” Mr Whittal stressed.
