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Member of Parliament (MP) for Medina Constituency, Lawyer Francis-Xavier Sosu, has called on President Akufo-Addo to be proactive in the fight against corruption and to “desist from fighting anti-corruption institutions and the use of security apparatus to intimidate independent journalists who seek to expose corruption in the performance of their duties.”
The call was in response to President Akufo-Addo’s remarks and actions over the years pertaining to the fight against corruption in the country.
On Wednesday April 14, 2021, Pesident Akufo-Addo, speaking at a National Consultative Diaglogue on Small-Scale Mining indicated that he is determined to “enforce the laws on illegal mining no matter the subject, high or low.”
He added: “I will, however, not act on hearsay or mere allegations without more. I will not hesitate to act where the evidence is hard before the police. “And I will do so irrespective of the standing of the person or persons involved.”
But the human rights lawyer, in his critique, said “no one is saying that the President should convict persons based on hearsay or lack of evidence.” According to him, those words only “demonstrate the seemingly lack of interest by President Akufo Addo to crack the whip on corruption in his Administration.”
Furthermore, it “goes contrary to the promise by then [2012] Candidate Akufo Addo to tackle corruption in his administration,” when he promised to use Anas Aremeyaw Anas principle of investigation to instill fear in office holders on corruption.
Fracis-Xavier Sosu said: “In spite of the above comments, the President has done little to tackle the menace since taking office in January 2017, considering the many corruption scandals in the past four years.”
In his analysis of Corruption Perception Index reports, the MP, who is also Deputy Ranking Member on the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee of Parliament, noted that Ghana’s performance under the regime of President Akufo-Addo has been the worst in comparison with the NDC regime.
“Between 2017 and 2020, Ghana obtained an average score of 41.25 following scores of 40 for 2017, 41 for 2018, on the Corruption Perception Index as compared to an average score of 46 between 2013 and 2016. The 2020 report released by Transparency International saw the country score 43 points out of a possible 100, a two-point increase from 2019’s 41 points.
“This is compared to the 2016 CPI score of 43, 47 for 2015, 48 for 2014, 46 for 2013, and 45 for 2012. This shows that the NPP’s best score of 43 on the CPI is equivalent to the NDC’s worst score of 43,” the MP critiqued.
He added: “This is the worst period in the history of the fourth Republic in the fight against corruption, with the Special Prosecutor resigning from office, and the Auditor General having been kicked out of office. The state of corruption in Ghana today is also manifested in the 2019 Auditor General’s Report, which states that unaccounted funds from 2017 to 2019 for Public Boards, Corporations, and other Statutory Institutions amounted to GHS20 billion.
“Also, various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) could not account for GH¢50.4 million from 2017 to 2019, with these irregularities occurring under a President that promised to protect the public purse,” he noted
