Anti-graft campaigners criticise Akufo-Addo’s approach to fighting corruption

Anti-corruption campaigners say President Nana Akufo-Addo’s approach to fighting corruption fails to exude confidence.

They say the President is sidelining existing national frameworks to tackle the problem and is instead waging the war on graft with mere statements and promises.

A member of the African Union Advisory Board on Corruption, Daniel Batidam, says it was unfortunate that the President has failed to support the National Anti-Corruption Action Plan (NACAP), for instance.

NACAP is a 10-year blueprint for fighting corruption that started in 2015 and is expected to end in 2025.

It was formulated based on consensus with various stakeholders and unanimously approved by Parliament as a working document to tackle corruption in the country.

Speaking on current affairs programme, PM Express, on the Joy News channel on MultiTV on Monday, Mr Batidam said President Akufo-Addo is busily making promises instead of getting to work on existing frameworks

“You can’t fight corruption by just making statements. You must give expression to the statements you make by saying the question how. Every public policy student knows that the questions you must ask every policy maker is ‘how are you going to do the things you say you are going to do’.

“We have been on a certain path for some time and I was very, very sad and disappointed when in the President’s first opportunity to engage the media [he failed to mention] the word NACAP, in terms of how he intends to address corruption in this country,” Mr Batidam, who was Advisor on Governance and Corruption to former President John Mahama,  said.

Also, Programmes Manager at the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), Mary Awelana-Addah, who also spoke on the current affairs programme, said the President must investigate allegations of corruption leveled against some government officials because that will prove his resolve to fighting corruption.

Ruling NPP stalwart, and Member of Parliament for Assin Central, Kennedy Agyepong, recently alleged that a presidential staffer demanded $20, 000 from an unnamed investor who wanted to meet President Akufo-Addo.

Mr. Agyepong, who is has made similar corruption allegations in the past, also said though the president is unaware of such happenings in his office, some of those around him are busy using their positions to extort monies from people who want to invest in the economy.

Mary Awelana-Addah said claims such as those made by the Assin Central MP must not be allowed to pass without a probe.

Watch the full episode of PM Express in the video below.

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