A National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary candidate for South Tongu, Maxwell Lukutor, has expressed the need for government to holistically address the issue of corruption, by this, he noted that there must be attitudinal change from all quarters.
According to him, although various plans and strategies have been instituted by government to address issues of corruption, not much has been achieved in that regard.
In light of this, he indicated that Attorney General and minister of justice, Godfred Dame’s plans of anti-corruption may do little to salvage the situation.
Mr Lukutor expressed that at the end of the day, there isn’t anything new that Mr Dame said that should tickle his fancy.
“For me, we need to practically tell ourselves we all need to fight… It should be some attitudinal change and review of thoughts from us as individuals before we even get to public spaces or political positions. Once we know there are people who are watching our ways and our steps, we will be able to do things appropriately.”
Maxwell Lukutor
Dealing with corruption in governmental institutions
Furthermore, Mr Lukutor stated that all of the things espoused by the Attorney General are not novel ideas. He explained that matters such as asset declaration for instance is shrouded in “some kind of secrecy” as it makes the public oblivious of assets declared by state officials.
“Of course, putting people’s information across is also something we can look at, but if this information is something we are not privy to, and it’s only something we have to pull out of an envelope, how assured are we that what the person pulled in the first place is even right? For me, the Right to Information bill has been passed into law, but is it as effective as we want it to be when you go to ask for your information?…”
Maxwell Lukutor
Regarding digitalization, Mr Lukutor noted that although there are technological advancements and incorpration of digitalization in most institutions, there are still human interfaces which creates room for corruption to thrive.
Citing the Lands Commission, he higlighted that despite the fact that there is digitalization, persons who are fronting some of these systems will intentionally make it dysfunctional so that clients would want to avert to manual form of doing things by which way they will also get their cuts.
“It’s unfortunate that it is the same Ghanaians we are all fighting for to eliminate are the ones that inadvertently would want to promote it in their own way and benefit from. So, for me, I believe we have had a lot of laws to control corruption. The more we do, the more we drop in the index. The last time the index came I think we were around 52…”
Maxwell Lukutor
It will be recalled that Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mr Godfred Yeboah Dame, announced that Government is in the process of developing a new strategic framework for fighting corruption.
He revealed that the National Anti-Corruption Action Plan 2 (NACAP2) would be in place by the first quarter of 2025.
The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice revealed that Ghana’s anti-corruption effort had been relatively better coordinated and systematic resulting in significant progress since the adoption of NACAP in 2014.
Mr Dame stated that digitalisation of ports, pension scheme, Land Registry, digital property address system and Mobile Money Interoperability Systems, helped to enhance transparency, accountability and efficiency in the public sector.
Moreover, he noted that Ghana recognises the centrality of access to information in the creation of accountability and integrity in society and ultimately the elimination of corruption.
Thus, he expressed that underlying the digitalization agenda of the government, which comprises a robust National Identification System, Digital Property Address System, Paperless Port Systems, E-Justice Systems, Pensions and Insurance data, a digitized Land Registry and Mobile Money Interoperability System, is the overarching objective to enhance transparency, accountability and efficiency in the public sector.
Meanwhile, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice underscored that digitized environment ultimately helps to eliminate and prevent corruption in the Passport Office, Ports and Harbours Authority, Registrar-General’s Department, National Health Insurance Service, Driver Vehicle and Licensing.
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