President Akufo-Addo has stated that his government has been consistent and dedicated in the fight against corruption in Ghana.
According to the president, he has vowed not to set aside due process in the fight against corruption.
President Akufo-Addo noted that he has spent huge sums of money on anti-corruption institutions such as Office of the Special Prosecutor than any other government in a bid to root out corruption completely.
Addressing the National Anti-Corruption Conference in Accra, the president mentioned that his administration has declared a zero tolerance against corruption in Ghana.
Also, the president touted that “more monies have been spent by my government on education, health, infrastructure particularly – roads, agriculture, industry, the security services and the anti-corruption institutions than by any any other government in the fourth republic if not the entire history of Ghana”.
He again, argued that “it is difficult to sustain any serious argument about the wanton dissipation of public funds in my time as president”
To buttress his stance, he indicated that beyond all the monies spent on infrastructure and development, his administration was able to find 25 billion cedis to pay for refund of depositors monies arising from the financial sector crisis.
These expenditures he said are evidences of what his administration has used revenues accrued to government and tax payers monies for.
“It’s been a holistic approach [that] we protected the public purse, we made institutional reforms, we have enacted additional requisite laws and we have resourced more adequately the accountability organs of state” thus, our fight against corruption has been grounded on financial and institutional action and not on lip service.
The president thus declared that “I have shown you that my government has fought corruption not in words but in concrete deeds”.
While encouraging law enforcement agencies to function without fear or favour, President Akufo-Addo stated that corruption retards economic growth, inflates cost of governance, promotes mediocrity and incompetence.
Supreme Court judge, Justice Yonny Kulendi, who also spoke at the conference indicated the judiciary code will strictly apply the law without fear or favor in the adjudication of corrupt cases brought before it.
He is confident that the implementation of a code of conduct procedure for judges and staff of the judicial service will help the judiciary take a lead role in the fight against corruption.
