State Institution funded Anas' investigation

Government has reiterated its commitment to fighting and rooting out corruption in Ghana. In so doing, government's objective is also to ensure it maximises revenue collection.

In a statement signed by Deputy Minister for Information, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Government revealed that the two recent investigative works by journalist Anas Aremayaw Anas [that is the Cocoa smuggling report and the latest on happenings at the Tema Port] were funded by a State institution.

The statement indicated that the principle behind funding the two projects is to employ counter-check measures in order to assess whether or not existing systems put in place are yielding the required results.

Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa hinted at several other strategies that have been deployed at the instance of President John Atta Mills in the fight against corruption and stressed that "the president is determined to win this fight at all cost."

The Deputy Minister pointed to other measures such as the commitment to passing the Freedom of Information Bill, resourcing and providing logistics to the security services, the transformation of the Serious Fraud Office to the Economic and Organised Crime Office with enhanced powers, the purchase of 25 new vehicles for State Attorneys and a policy of non- interference in the workings of investigative and quasi-judicial bodies.

The statement concluded by appealing to all Ghanaians that the fight against corruption is a collective one and that "anytime we cut corners or pay bribes, we are as guilty as those CEPS officials caught in the Anas tape and that all of us, including State Prosecutors, must play our role in this fight."