Government yet to establish Accountability Office

Professor Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi, Executive Director, Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD), on Monday noted that the Kufuor Administration, after two years in office, was yet to establish its promised office of accountability within the executive branch of Government.

He said even if the process was being pursued within governmental circles, it was necessary the Government shared information on it with the public for them to make inputs on the appointment of people into that office.

Prof. Gyimah-Boadi made the remark in a discussion in Accra after delivering a paper at the beginning of a one-week seminar on "Capacity Building training on Anti-Corruption and Good Governance" organized by Les Aspen Centre for Government, a US-based leadership-training institute.

Participants were middle to senior level personnel working with human rights and women's development organisations, the media, anti corruption and administration of justice as well as legal and business practice from Ghana, Mali and Nigeria.

He said the Government was also yet to fulfil the indirect promise it made, to pass a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and reform the existing Public Officers Declaration Law, which he described as inadequate.

Prof. Gyimah-Boadi questioned why the confirmation of the current Auditor-General was delayed and argued that frequent changes in the head of the Serious Fraud Office, which now has its third boss, was a failure to strengthen the independence of that agency.

The CDD Executive Director, who is also a Professor at the Political Science Department, University of Ghana, said the Government had also failed to articulate open, transparent and meritocratic procedures for executive appointments to key public institutions, with the administration failing to depart from the existing non-transparent practice of making appointments by directives.

Prof. Gyimah-Boadi recalled the declaration of "zero tolerance for corruption" of the Government as a follow-up to its campaign promise to end official corruption and abuse of office.

He also recalled the "impressive openness" to the media and conviction of the former minister of Youth and Sports, Mallam Isa, "for stealing", as well as the confirmation of the appointment of the Auditor-General as positive developments.

He, however, noted that the "zero tolerance for corruption" phrase was gradually disappearing from public statements, and added that there was apparent preference to dealing with corrupt officials rather than prevention of corruption.

"All (these) represent a decline in the political will to fight corruption," Prof. Gyimah-Boadi said. Prof. Gyimah-Boadi said political leaders in Africa might recognize the negative effects of corruption, and in the short run desire to combat it.

However, they were faced with short-term pressures, temptations and imperatives of political expediency to maintain the status quo and follow the line of least resistance.

"Political leaders may have to muster the courage to take on the challenge of confronting corruption," the CDD Executive Director said.

He called for political leadership that was willing to prosecute corruption on the part of insiders.

He added that it was vital that prosecutions were not just reserved for opponents of the incumbent administration, but rather pursued wherever corruption was identifiable.

Prof. Gyimah-Boadi said it was necessary that reforms were initiated to address the serious problem of payment of non-living wages.

The reforms must also reduce executive dominance, significantly empower and resource official anti-corruption and countervailing agencies.

He said as a result of its ties with the ruling party the Office of the Attorney General in Ghana was not likely to advise the Government without partisan considerations.

Prof Gyimah-Boadi advocated, among other things, media exposure of corruption, selection of achievable benchmarking, such as the delivery of executive commitments in the form of an in-house office of accountability and enforcement of code of conduct for public office holders.

The participants to the seminar, which is an orientation to a general one to be held in Washington DC next month would provide a baseline knowledge of specific country issues.

The participants and programme presenters are examining the nature of corruption and governance, and explore practical ways of managing corruption in the democratic and cultural environments in participating countries.