Director for the Centre of European Studies at the University of Ghana, Dr Kwame Asah Asante, has revealed that government and institutions in the country lack the political will to deal with corruption.
Following this, Dr Asah-Asante questioned the handling of corruption by government and whether within political parties, governments overtime, have had the “political wherewithal” to deal with people within its own government. However, he intimated that government must be “bold and be courageous” to deal with corrupt people within the country, particularly those within its “fold”.
“The real bit is that, government and institutions lack the political will to deal with corruption head-on; that is all. So, yes, it’s something the OSP wants to come up with but for me, if we are not ready to face or bite the bullet and be able to deal with the issue, I’m afraid we can come up with all manner of tables, it will not work”.
Dr Kwame Asah Asante
His comments followed the launch of a corruption league table by the Office of the Special Prosecutor to compile a list of the most-to-least corrupt institutions and organisations in the public sector. The corruption league table, christened, the Ghana Corruption League Table, according to the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, is an important intervention to drive down corruption in the public sector.
The project is expected to be akin to a fusion of the Corruption Perception Index programmes of Transparency International and Afrobarometer. It is intended to be a research-based model designed to assess real and perceived levels of public sector corruption.
Dr Asah-Asante believes that what the Ghana Corruption League Table proffers to do is not different from what institutions such as Transparency International, CDD-Ghana and Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) are already doing. He noted that these think tanks, have over the years published reports on the “league table of corrupt institutions” within the country, however, corruption is still festering.
Commenting on the relevance of the Corruption League Table, Dr Asah-Asante expressed that what government needs to focus on is dealing with the crux of corruption in the country. He explained that it is only by ridding corruption from system within governments that headway be made.
“We have done a lot in this area. Let us remember that the issue of naming and shaming, the issue of imprisonment and in certain aspect, we use firing squad; all these things did not work. So, we need a careful reflection on this issue so we will come up with something that will stand the test of time, otherwise, it will be a mere lip service”.
Dr Kwame Asah Asante
OSP launches the Ghana Corruption League Table
Speaking at the launch of GCLT yesterday, March 22, 2022, Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Mr Godfred Dame, explained that the results of the study would form the basis for enhanced pragmatic suppression and repression of corruption in the public sector.
He indicated that the project would identify the factors, among other things, that advance corruption in the public sector, including deficiencies in regulations and procedures, deficiencies in the administration of instructions and individual interest.
On his part, Deputy Attorney-General, Alfred Tuah-Yeboah, expressed the belief that the league table would be used as an important gauge by public sector agencies in managing corruption risks when conducting businesses. He emphasized that it will prompt agencies to review their compliance programmes, identify any compliance risks that might have previously been undetected and make adjustments accordingly.
Mr Tuah-Yeboah noted that lessons from around the world revealed that no government could fight corruption without the involvement of the citizenry. As a consequent, he called on all and sundry to be a part of the fight against corruption.
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