Fighting corruption should not be a 9-day wonder

Cape Coast, Dec. 13, GNA- Mr Richard Quayson, Deputy Commissioner, Commission on Human Rights And Administrative Justices (CHRAJ) on Thursday stated that the fight against corruption in the country should not be a nine-day wonder, but should be sustained to completely curb the canker.

He said it was therefore, imperative for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAS) to show interest and be committed in whatever they do to help prevent corruption in the society.

Mr Quayson, who said this at the opening of a two-day public forum for heads of department in the Central Region at Cape Coast, pointed out that, "fighting corruption required total commitment from all, including the President to the man on the street".

The forum, under the theme; "promoting transparency and accountability in the public service: a focus on the guidelines on conflict of interest for public officials," is to, among others, educate the participants on the "guidelines on the conflict of interest", anti-corruption mandate of CHRAJ and the whistle blowers Act720.

Mr Quayson regretted that in most cases, structures set up, have placed emphasis on meting out punishment to people for corrupt actions, instead of towards prevention or curbing it and stressed that corruption could only be stopped if measures are evolved to prevent it. According to him, if corruption was properly dealt with, it would automatically also address the issue of conflict of interests, since most of such cases bordered on corruption, among MDAs and public officials.

"If people begin to participate and show interest in fighting corruption it would make the public service less corrupt," he added. On the Whistleblower Act, he said it was one of the many ways that would help the country to fight corruption and that about 18 organisations were detailed to receive such information and hinted that the Commission, which is among the 18, has so far received more than five cases, and has successfully dealt with one, with the rest still under investigation.

He said the Act would promote transparency, accountability and an enabling environment to help check corruption, but explained that there were however, some setbacks in the Act which need to be amended, such as the documentation of evidence by illiterate whistleblowers. He gave the assurance that everything would be done to make the necessary amendments by next year and called on all well-meaning Ghanaians to take advantage of the Act to help expose wrongdoings in the society, adding that the confidentiality of the whistleblower would be ensured.

In an address read for him, the Regional Minister, Nana Ato Arthur, described corruption as a "deadly social disease" that affects a nation's socio-political and economic well-being, and undermined good governance, rule of law, and weakened the institutional foundations upon which economic growth depends. He called for the redoubling of efforts to combat corruption and said that the guidelines on the conflict of interests developed by CHRAJ must be applauded, since it would assist all to identify, manage and resolve such conflicts. "As public officials we are vulnerable to conflicts of interests in our daily work; the contract we manage, the staff we supervise, the activities we undertake from our officials jobs. Conflict of interest can arise in any or all of these if the necessary preventive steps are not taken to avoid them. We can however avoid falling into conflict of interests if we study and internalize the guidelines", he declared.