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0 The Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC) has bemoaned how state law enforcement agencies and prosecutorial offices have not been adequately empowered to effectively discharge their mandates in corruption and its related matters.
The Coalition observes that appointees of a ruling government are usually not held accountable for any wrongful activity, but it only takes the successive and opposing new government to prosecute such persons.
The comments come on the heels of the recent Corruption Perception Index, which saw Ghana moving up one place to 76th position out of 182 countries after scoring 43 out of 100.
The country had, in the past years, stagnated in the scores, defeating its fight against corruption and related activities.
Head of the Monitoring and Evaluation unit at the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition, Solomon Yankah, believes the fight could be won only if prosecutorial institutions and law enforcement agencies are allowed to work effectively.
“We shouldn’t see this post-regime accountability if our institutions were working. The President can now ensure that all the institutions are working, so that, irrespective of whoever comes after him, the institutions will be up to task. It shouldn’t be something that the NDC or NPP administration will leave before we start chasing a few people,” he noted.
The Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition, in partnership with the Africa Centre for Energy Policy and Transparency International, held a one-day Zonal Capacity-Building Workshop for Civic Actors on the Auditor-General’s Report and the CitizensEye App – a digital app.
The workshop is organised by the ACEP-led coalition as part of the project titled “An Anti-Corruption Initiative for Enhancing Governance and Accountability,” with funding by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).
The workshop assembled civil society groups, the media, and other relevant stakeholders, including persons with disabilities and other marginalised groups, to be exposed to the mandates and rudimentary works of the Ghana Audit Service.
Participants were also educated on the CitizenEye app, a mobile application launched in 2019 by the service to enhance accountability and curb corruption.
The workshop also sought to equip the audit service with standardised tools to strengthen its capacity for compliance monitoring and accountability enforcement.
“We [GACC] are committed to strengthening accountability and good governance. Together, let’s demand accountability from duty bearers,” Mr Yankah admonished.
