The Speaker of Parliament, Mr. Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin, has urged African legislators to reimagine their approach in fighting corruption on the continent, in light of its evolving nature. He emphasized the importance for members of the African Parliamentarians’ Network Against Corruption (APNAC) to leverage new technologies to uncover corruption, mobilize resources, and strengthen inter-parliamentary solidarity to confront cross-border corruption.
The Speaker made the call at the opening of the 9th Biennial General Meeting of APNAC held in Accra on Friday under the theme, “Repositioning APNAC in the fight against corruption: Overcoming current and emerging challenges.” According to Mr. Bagbin, repositioning APNAC was crucial as corruption had developed into various forms, including illicit financial flows, cybercrime, and sextortion, which were increasing across Africa.
Mr. Bagbin further bemoaned issues such as political campaign financing, which he said sometimes fueled corruption. He urged legislators to move beyond merely ratifying treaties, agreements, and protocols or passing legislation, and instead play an active role in combating corruption.
He noted that the Parliament of Ghana had implemented appropriate measures to address corruption. As part of its strategic plan, Parliament intends to decentralize its operations to the unit level to draw closer to the citizenry. Other measures highlighted by Mr. Bagbin include strengthening internal accountability and ethics through the establishment of the Ethics and Standards Committee, the Office of the Commissioner of Standards, and the adoption of a code of conduct for legislators.
Mr. Bagbin pledged the support of the Parliament of Ghana to APNAC in reimagining its mission and vision, enabling it to reposition itself as a true vanguard of Africa’s integrity movement.
The President of APNAC and Speaker of the National Assembly of Benin, Dr. Louis Gbèhounou Vlavonou, stated that the only way to eradicate corruption in Africa is for legislators to acknowledge its negative impact on citizens. He commended the Parliament of Ghana for implementing appropriate anti-corruption measures and urged other African countries to learn from Ghana’s example.
The Chairperson of the APNAC Ghana Chapter and Member of Parliament for Ho West, Mr. Emmanuel Kwasi Bedzrah, in his welcome address, encouraged participants to identify pragmatic and sustainable measures to revitalize APNAC.
Present at the event were legislators from other African countries, the Chief Majority Whip, Mr. Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, representing the Majority Leader; the First Deputy Minority Whip, Alhaji Habib Iddrisu, representing the Minority Leader; the Commissioner of Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Dr. Joseph Whittal; and heads of various accountability institutions.
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