Special Prosecutor Bill, four others get Presidential assent
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Tuesday gave assent to five Bills, paving the way for government to strengthen the process of accountability, good governance and the development of Ghana.
The Bills include; the establishment of the Office of Special Prosecutor, the Zongo Development Fund, the Coastal Development Authority, the Middle Belt Development Authority and the Northern Development Authority.
At a brief signing ceremony at the Flagstaff House in Accra, President Akufo-Addo was elated that the Bills, which were critical elements of the New Patriotic Party’s manifesto in the last election and upon which his government was elected, had found “legislative expression”.
He was hopeful that the establishment of the Office of the Special Prosecutor “is going to be an important step in our collective determination to root out corruption in the public life of our country.”
“All of us know it (corruption) is a major bane in the development of Ghana, and, hopefully, this office will make sure that public officials, past and present, are held to account for their actions, and that corrupt acts will no longer go without investigation, and, if necessary, sanction, once due process has been respected.”
The President pointed out that in the course of the 2016 electoral campaigns, the NPP was emphatic on the need for new development paradigm, because the centralised approach adopted after independence had not yielded the desired results.
Thus, the establishment of the Coastal, Middle Belt and Northern Development Authorities, would deliver development at the grassroots of society.
“Therefore, we made this commitment that we will spend on each constituency, every year, the equivalent of $1 million.
“These Development Authorities, which are now going to be put in place, will be the vehicle for the management of these funds, and the expenditure of the equivalent of $1 million per constituency commitment,” he added.
On the Zongo Development Fund, President Akufo-Addo was of the view that the deprivation and under-development of that section of society required special consideration in the country’s development initiatives.
“It is not something that a healthy society can tolerate, and it is important that affirmative action of the sort is taken to address the needs of the Zongos. That is what the establishment of this Fund is going to try to do,” he noted.
The ceremony was witnessed by Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and some senior government officials.
Source: GNA