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Fighting corruption should not be a
nine-day wonder- Quayson
Cape Coast, Dec. 13, Ghanadot/GNA- Mr Richard Quayson,
Deputy Commissioner, Commission on Human Rights And
Administrative Justices (CHRAJ) on Thursday stated that the
fight against corruption in the country should not be a
nine-day wonder, but should be sustained to completely curb
the canker.
He said it was therefore, imperative for Ministries,
Departments and Agencies (MDAS) to show interest and be
committed in whatever they do to help prevent corruption in
the society.
Mr Quayson, who said this at the opening of a two-day public
forum for heads of department in the Central Region at Cape
Coast, pointed out that, “fighting corruption required total
commitment from all, including the President to the man on
the street”.
The forum, under the theme; “promoting transparency and
accountability in the public service: a focus on the
guidelines on conflict of interest for public officials,” is
to, among others, educate the participants on the
“guidelines on the conflict of interest”, anti-corruption
mandate of CHRAJ and the whistle blowers Act720.
Mr Quayson regretted that in most cases, structures set up,
have placed emphasis on meting out punishment to people for
corrupt actions, instead of towards prevention or curbing it
and stressed that corruption could only be stopped if
measures are evolved to prevent it.
According to him, if corruption was properly dealt with, it
would automatically also address the issue of conflict of
interests, since most of such cases bordered on corruption,
among MDAs and public officials.
“If people begin to participate and show interest in
fighting corruption it would make the public service less
corrupt,” he added.
On the Whistleblower Act, he said it was one of the many
ways that would help the country to fight corruption and
that about 18 organisations were detailed to receive such
information and hinted that the Commission, which is among
the 18, has so far received more than five cases, and has
successfully dealt with one, with the rest still under
investigation.
He said the Act would promote transparency, accountability
and an enabling environment to help check corruption, but
explained that there were however, some setbacks in the Act
which need to be amended, such as the documentation of
evidence by illiterate whistleblowers.
He gave the assurance that everything would be done to make
the necessary amendments by next year and called on all
well-meaning Ghanaians to take advantage of the Act to help
expose wrongdoings in the society, adding that the
confidentiality of the whistleblower would be ensured.
In an address read for him, the Regional Minister, Nana Ato
Arthur, described corruption as a “deadly social disease”
that affects a nation’s socio–political and economic
well-being, and undermined good governance, rule of law, and
weakened the institutional foundations upon which economic
growth depends.
He called for the redoubling of efforts to combat corruption
and said that the guidelines on the conflict of interests
developed by CHRAJ must be applauded, since it would assist
all to identify, manage and resolve such conflicts.
“As public officials we are vulnerable to conflicts of
interests in our daily work; the contract we manage, the
staff we supervise, the activities we undertake from our
officials jobs. Conflict of interest can arise in any or all
of these if the necessary preventive steps are not taken to
avoid them. We can however avoid falling into conflict of
interests if we study and internalize the guidelines”, he
declared.
GNA
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