The Deputy Chief of Staff in charge of Administration, Nana Oye Bampoe Addo, has reaffirmed government commitment to satisfying the anti-corruption international obligations of the state as contained in the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC).
To achieve this, she said, the government would establish a State Assets Registry to effectively protect state assets, setting up an inquiry into looted state lands.
The government, she indicated, would also be conducting a forensic audit and an inquiry into the National Cathedral scandal, and enacting the Conduct of Public Officers Bill into law.
The Deputy Chief of Staff was speaking at the launch of the Final Evaluation Report of the National Anti-Corruption Action Plan (NACAP) in Accra, on Friday.
The 10-year anti-corruption strategic plan was implemented between 2015 and 2024 with key objectives of building public capacity to condemn and fight corruption, make it a high risk, and low-gain venture.
It is also to institutionalise efficiency, accountability and transparency in the public, private and not-for profit sectors by engaging individuals, media and Civil Society Organisations to report to aid combat corruption and its related matters.
Nana Oye Bampoe Addo further expressed disappointment with Ghana’s slow progress in fighting corruption, despite a decade-long effort with NACAP.
“Over the past three years, Ghana’s Corruption Perception Index has shown little improvement, highlighting the persistent challenges in the fight against corruption in 2022 and 2023, the country maintained a CPI score of 43, indicating a stagnation in anti-corruption efforts,” she elaborated.
However, she stated that, last year, the score dropped slightly to 42, signalling a decline in public trust regarding transparency and accountability.
The Deputy Chief of Staff underscored that other recent surveys on corruption by institutions such as Transparency International, the Centre for Democratic Development, Ghana (CDD) Afro-barometer Reports and the Ghana Statistical Service, showed the lack of progress in the fight against corruption.
“All these surveys have shown that corruption remains a big challenge in Ghana even after several years of implementing NACAP, and this Report has not given us a clean slate on the fight against corruption in Ghana,” she noted.
Nana Oye Bampoe Addo again pledged the government’s commitment to the implementation of a NACAP Il, to ensure that the corruption and its related matters were dealt with.
The Commissioner on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Dr Joseph Whittal, said government adopted NACAP a decade ago due to the immense growing public concern about the scale of corruption and its impact on society.
He added that NACAP was conceived as a comprehensive strategy transcending political barriers to drive anti-corruption activities to promote and mainstream the values of integrity, transparency and accountability in all sectors of society, and ensure effective enforcement of anti-corruption laws in the country.
BY CECILIA YADA LAGBA
