Mrs Mary Awelana Addah, the Executive Director, Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), said called for the strict monitoring of public accountability institutions mandated to enforce Ghana’s anti-corruption laws.
She said this would ensure their effective operation, bringing corruption under control and sanctioning those who exploit vulnerabilities in the system.
Mrs Addah said the nation must focus on discerning actions that were needed to foster anti-corruption practices, comprehensively indicating that it was important to take stock of achievements and identify exact areas that required policy interventions.
She was speaking at a forum in Tamale to commemorate the International Anti-Corruption Day (IACD) and the 20th Anniversary of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC).
It was organised by GII in partnership with the Ghana Developing Communities Association (GDCA).
The event assembled religious and traditional leaders, students, persons with disabilities, accountability and law enforcement institutions to discuss the nation’s efforts in combating corruption and to assess the effectiveness of existing interventions.
Participants made contributions on strategies to whip up citizens’ interest to unite against corruption, among which was a call for increased pay and incentives for workers to deter them from undertaking dubious acts.
The IACD is marked annually to create awareness on corruption and the need to combat it and celebrated this year on the theme: “UNCAC @ 20: Uniting the World Against Corruption.”
Mrs Addah said observing two decades of UNCAC was to reflect on progress, the challenges faced, and the imperative for collective action in the fight against corruption.
She mentioned that it was an introspection period, saying, “This introspection is particularly critical as Ghana faces perceived stagnation in its anti-corruption endeavours and grapples with unprecedented economic challenges.”
Alhaji Osman Abdel-Rahman, the Executive Director, GDCA, said Ghana’s effort in enacting anti-corrupt laws and infrastructure was commendable, however, implementing challenges persisted.
He called on the citizenry to renew their commitment and form new alliances against corruption.
Mr Seidu Alhassan, the Deputy Chief Investigator at the Northern Regional Office of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, outlined some corrupt cases investigated by the Commission, which included that of high-profile individuals, underscoring the need for combating corruption.
He said the war against corruption was winnable, hence the need for stakeholders to intensify commitment in fighting the canker.
He indicated that laws and laudable policies by themselves were not self-executing, but it took people with the capacity and well-resourced institutions to implement the laws and policies.
