The President’s Special Advisor on governance and corruption, Daniel Batidam has stated categorically that no government can solely deal with the fight against corruption that has bedevilled the country.
“I want to say this very clearly, no government by itself alone can tackle corruption unless we are able to mobilise the population,’ he asserted.
In line with this, he called on the Judiciary, religious leaders, parliamentarians, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), media, traditional rulers to help in the fight against corruption.
He observed that government was aware that the country had suffered excessively due to corruption, hence various initiatives implemented to fight corruption.
“I would say that we are beginning to see more steps through the use of the National Anti-Corruption Action Plan (NACAP) especially at the level of government, I mean the executive. We are beginning to see more steps in the things that we are supposed to be doing,’ he remarked.
He admitted that mobilising stakeholders to fight corruption has been difficult.
“You and I know that overtime our people have become so cynical, let down, so disappointed by government after government, that mobilising various stakeholders of our society to tackle corruption is not an easy task.
“We must begin to renew the hopes of the people, renew the confidence of the people in our collective ability to tackle corruption,” he added.
Highlighting mechanisms put in place to fight corruption, Mr. Batidam urged Ghanaians to collectively double their efforts in tackling problems associated with corruption.
“One of the issues I would want us as Ghanaians to do in 2016 is to collectively double our efforts towards tackling the problems of corruption which has now become one of the major obstacles of progress of our national development agenda. I hope all of us will accept the responsibility that we have a role to play to bring down corruption to the minimum level where it does not obstruct our developmental agenda,” he said.
Speaking on Ultimate breakfast co-hosted by Prince Minkah and Kwame Adinkra of Atinka Fm, he charged Ghanaians to view corruption in its broader perspective.
He further expressed worry about the way Ghanaians perceive corruption, observing that sometimes people base their judgement on one specific aspect or the other which does not usually help matters.
“I think by far as a people we have been dishonest in the way we look at corruption. And it has not helped us in dealing with the issue. “If we begin to look at corruption from its broader perspective in 2016, beyond delivering certain specific sectors of society as the ones they are corrupt. We should begin to go beyond government. We must be witnesses of what we preach. One of the major things to do is for Ghanaians to do collective examination of conscience of the way we view corruption in the country,’ he noted.
Asked how the Mahama-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) government tackled corruption in 2015, he remarked that they managed to mobilize other sectors of society.
“I think we as government are beginning to mobilise the population, the other sectors of the society, the judiciary, religious leaders, Parliament, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), media, traditional rulers. I think this year we have done some work in reaching out to these people in solving corruption,” he said.
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