'Corruption Watch' Demands Speedy Action On Central Medical Stores Fire

An anti-corruption civil society coalition, 'Corruption Watch' is calling on government to hasten with investigations into the Central Medical Stores fire incident that occurred three years ago, in order to bring the perpetrators to book.

The 'Corruption Watch', comprising of Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC), Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) and Africa Centre for International Law and Accountability, is lamenting that for over three years after the incident, no one has been prosecuted or held liable despite suspicion of arson, all as a result of the slow pace of investigations.

The group indicated that the GH₵350 million worth of drugs that were purportedly destroyed as a result of the incident could attain for the country about 80km of roads, 200 six-unit classroom blocks, 100 CHPS compound and about 578 boreholes
At a pop-up event held in Accra, the group displayed to the general public 350 bags of ‘Ghana must go' containing dummy notes to show to Ghanaians what exactly the cost of corruption is to the state.

Kojo Asante, a Senior Research Fellow at CDD, who doubles as the Project Manager for 'Corruption Watch', which was launched in November, this year, explained that the pop-up event was to keep a spotlight on corruption issues from when it is exposed to retrieval and prosecution.

"It was to show Ghanaians what really the cost of corruption is, because for most Ghanaians, sometimes the money involved is too abstract.

“Some of them throughout their lifetime have not even owned an amount of GH₵10,000 so when you quote figures for example like $80,000, which is equivalent to GH₵350 million, they don’t really understand the mess created.

“Let us create an image; let Ghanaians the picture of what really that means.
This event is basically to show that every single bag is 1 million cedis and GH₵350 million of them have been destroyed or stolen," he lamented.

He advised that it is time, as a nation, we connect corruption cases to individuals and link it to their lives and the development that are taken away from them because of corruption.

The pop-up event, the first in the series, sought to create awareness about the 'Corruption Watch' project, educate the public on the negative effects of corruption, and the role citizens can play in the anti-corruption fight.