Ghanaians urged to hold leaders accountable

Jirapa (U/W), July 25, GNA - The Ghana Integrative Initiative (GII), the local chapter of Transparency International, has called on Ghanaians to contribute their quota to the fight against corruption. It urged Ghanaians to hold their leaders accountable and avoid the practice of collecting money or bribes from prospective Assembly members.

Mrs Linda Ofori-Kwafo, Acting Executive Director of GII, told newsmen at Jirapa that some would be tempted to collect money from contestants in the forthcoming District Level Elections and this would mean the candidates have been compromised. Mrs Ofori-Kwafo appealed to the government to lay the "Freedom of Information Bill" before Parliament for its passage, since a guaranteed right to information was essential and served as an anti-corruption measure.

She called on journalists to take full advantage of the freedom of the media to fight corruption through investigative journalism. "Producing reports that bring unethical behaviour to public attention, such as corruption is one sure way of dealing with the canker".

The GII, the Tamale Ecclesiastical Provincial Pastoral Conference, a Catholic organization advocating on good governance and anti-corruption and the Jirapa/Lambussie District secretariat of the National Commission on Civic Education also organized a two-day workshop on Democracy and good governance in the district.

A total of 70 people comprising chiefs, opinion leaders, assembly members, youth groups and representatives of departments and agencies in the district participated in the workshop.

The workshop, which was the 25th in a series being organized through out the country with GII as the spearhead, sought to raise awareness about the negative effects of corruption and to empower citizens at the local level to demand responsiveness, accountability and transparency from people and institutions in their communities.