Corruption denying the masses of development – CHRAJ official
The developmental needs of Ghanaians could easily be met if stringent measures are put in place to check the leakage of public funds into private pockets by successive governments and state institutions mandated to fight the menace.
Mr. Peter Asuah, the Atwima Nwabiagya South Municipal Director of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) who made the observation, said corruption had become an enterprise denying the masses of the needed development they deserved.
He said the whopping $3 billion which was lost to corruption every year in the country, could have been used to fund most of the projects that governments had been contracting loans to undertake over the years.
He was speaking at a community durbar organized by the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) at Ahwiafutu, a farming community in the Atwima Mponua District to sensitize the people on the effects of corruption to national development.
The durbar formed part of the Accountability, Rule of law and Anti-corruption Programme (ARAP), which is being implemented by the NCCE with funding from the European Union (EU).
Mr. Asuah said it was very common to see the execution of shoddy projects with a short lifespan across the country because some people had kept part of funds budgeted for such projects.
He said it was unacceptable for a few people to enrich themselves with national resources at the expense of the citizenry and charged the people to take keen interest in the fight against corruption.
They should not look away when they chance upon the perpetration of corruption but report them to expose the rot in society in the interest of national development.
He reminded them of the whistle blower’s law that protected citizens who expose corrupt practices and charged them to join the fight as a civic responsibility.
Mr. Simon Kwesi Padi, the District Programmes Officer of NCCE, said ARAP formed part of reforms geared towards the fight against corruption being spearheaded by the NCCE and other state agencies.
He said it was imperative to engage the people at the community level in order to reach out to more people to achieve the desired results in the fight against corruption.
He entreated them to show interest in exposing corruption even at the community level to build their confidence to contribute to the fight against the social canker at all levels of national endeavours.
Source: GNA