The Vice President, Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia, has revealed that as part of measures to make corruption unattractive, the government of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is determined to ensure that the canker would no more be a misdemeanour but a felony.
“We will also amend the criminal code to move corruption from a misdemeanour to an act of felony to make corruption unattractive in the country,” he stated.
He also reiterated government’s resolve to fight corruption in the country by making the needed resources available to eliminate the menace.
He said, “though government recognises the huge financial implications of this commitment to our already constrained fiscal space, we are resolved to make resources available to put in place an effective and efficient beneficial ownership regime in the country.”
The Vice President was speaking at a regional workshop organised by Transparency International, an anti-corruption organisation, in Accra yesterday aimed at promoting the use of beneficial ownership information to tackle corruption on the sub-region.
It had the theme “Supporting New Beneficial Ownership Transparency Champion in Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria” and was attended by civil society organisations, government officials, law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders from the three countries.
Dr Bawumia, delivering a keynote address at the meeting, made it clear that government had taken steps to pass the Right to Information bill this year and establish the office of Special Prosecutor to prosecute persons culpable of corrupt activities as means of tackling the problem.
The Executive Director of Ghana Integrity Initiative, Linda Ofori-Kwafo, bemoaned Ghana’s drop in the Global Corruption Index last year and called for stricter sanctions for persons found culpable for corruption.
“We have a government that has promised so much on how to eradicate corruption and has already hinted of a special prosecutor’s office, procurement law among others which is a good sign so we will be on the look out to hold government accountable on its promises to reduce corruption in Ghana,” she stated.
The Board Chair of GII, Moses K. Gyasi, for his part, stated that transparency and accountability were the surest ways to tackle corruption and attain desired national development.
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