Full Text Of National Anti-Corruption Action Plan, Please?

The pioneer Chairman of the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice, Justice Emile Short, has been going on and on about a National Anti-Corruption Action Plan, reportedly put together co-operatively about three years ago, as the panacea for the monster of corruption devouring Ghana. When he first broached the subject publicly about late last year, Justice Short pleaded with President John Dramani Mahama to the release the NA-CAP document, which was submitted to him while he was Vice-President, to enable Parliament enact it into law to boost the fight against corruption. Among the many virtues touted for it, it is said that the NA-CAP �will mobilise efforts and resources of stakeholders to fight corruption.� �It also aims to ensure efficiency, accountability and transparency in both public and private sectors, by investigating and prosecuting corrupt practices.� Now, Justice Short reports that Parliament, last Thursday, July 4, passed the NA-CAP Act. Apparently, President Mahama had heeded his entreaty, supported by one of our editorials, and forwarded the draft NA-CAP Bill to Parliament. In an interview with Citi News, reported on Ghanaweb, Justice short is quoted as having �advised Parliament to implement the newly adopted plan. �This is the first step, and the greatest challenge is the implementation of the plan. I think that we need to be hopeful and optimistic that the government will implement [it]. Mr. Short believes merely having a plan without implementing is of no use. According to him, the government will save more money if it takes immediate steps to implement the action plan. He, therefore, stated: �We (Ghanaians) have to be hopeful and put pressure on the government to implement the plan.� Justice Short sounds so passionate in his belief that the NA-CAP is the proverbial Philosopher�s Stone, or cure-all for our corruption pandemic. The Chronicle commends his unrelenting advocacy for a corruption-free Ghana, and wishes him more grease to his able elbows. However, we seem to note some sort of ambiguity. In one breath he advises Parliament to implement the anti-corruption act, and in the next, advocates pressure from all Ghanaians to get the government to implement the law. Which is which? Who has the responsibility under the law to implement the NA-CAP � Parliament or Government, or both? There is also the implication under its second aim that the operating arm or the Secretariat of the NA-CAP will be on auto-pilot in its investigative and prosecution activities, and possibly, in its financing. The wait-until-we-tell-you-to-move syndrome has been made a mess of by our on-the-make politicians, because of their parochial interests, and, in this day and age, any state institution with such a load on its neck is not worth celebrating. If the Secretariat of the NA-CAP is truly that independent, The Chronicle, The Spear of the Nation, will offer the NA-CAP Secretariat all the necessary support. But, please Justice Short, let us kindly have the full text and study it for ourselves. Such is necessary to gauge the sort of support we need to give the Secretariat. We await!