Ghana is ranked 69th out of the 179 countries surveyed on the grounds of corruption by the International Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for the year 2009. Corruption wastes national resources by distorting government policy against the interests of the majority of the people, thus turning the energies and efforts of public officials and citizens towards easy money instead of productive activities.
�It frustrates efforts to alleviate poverty and generates apathy and cynicisms,� according to Mr Emile Short, Commissioner of Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ).
Speaking at the launch of a Code of Conduct for Public Officers of Ghana, in Accra, Mr Short said because corruption is endemic in Ghana, coupled with the apparent lack of political will by governments to fight the canker, some people often think that corruption is �just a way of life and that there is a way of life and that there is nothing one can do about it. Many Ghanaians do not seem to view corrupt persons in the society as persons to be shamed, whilst some corrupt persons flaunt their ill-gotten wealth to the admiration of many.
Short stated, the fight against corruption this year appeared not to have yielded any positive result; this was due to the lack of information sharing and exchange amongst the institutions that fight corruption, as well as with other key accountability institutions in the country.
He said that �Information sharing and exchanges offers several advantages including reducing duplication of efforts and minimizing inter-institutional turf battles.�
�the absence of the freedom of information law is proving a huge challenge to the Commission and in investigations generally but in particular in investigating allegations of corruption like the Mabey and Johnson case. He also decried the situation where public office is seen by many as not an opportunity to serve but as an avenue to enrich themselves and their cronies. He called on all to coordinate their efforts in fighting corruption, safeguarding Ghana�s democracy, and deepen economic development by drawing up a National Anti-Corruption Action Plan.
According to him, the Action Plan will among others, form the basis or bench mark for assessing the performance of government and other institutions in the fight against corruption. In another development, the minority group in Parliament has called on the President Prof. John Evans Atta Mills to speak to the issue raised by Mr Kwame Pianim that he refused on two occasions brown envelopes given to him.
According to the minority, if indeed the assertion, which has been put forth by Mr Pianim, is true, then the President has to give them (the minority) the identities of the persons involved in these cases of attempted bribery.
In a press released signed by the Minority Chief Whip, Hon Frederick Opare-Ansah, the minority stated that if it is true, as asserted by Mr Pianim, who is also a leading member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), that the President was offered envelopes as inducement for some consideration by some persons, then it is an undeniable fact that their actions amounted to bribery.
And it is ridiculous, according to the statement, that the two persons alleged to have tried giving envelopes to the President, chose to give it to the President in front of a leading member of the major opposition party, the NPP.
The minority also stated that since both the Presdient, who is the Chief Executive Office of the land and Mr Pianim, a statesman have both failed to report the matter to the Police, they are both �Culpable.�
The minority further questioned whether the President�s failure to report the matter to the Police can be interpreted to mean his sheltering of wrongdoers in the country because they are friends.
The Criminal Code Act 29, 1960 criminalises both the giver and the taker of a bribe including attempted bribery. The Act also criminalises persons who witness such an act but fail to report to the relevant body.
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