I will ensure acts of corruption are punished – Akufo-Addo
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Tuesday said he had no intention of witch-hunting his political rivals, but that he would ensure that acts of corruption and malfeasance are punished under the ambit of the law.
He said it was important that the fight against corruption was seen to be a fight against crime and not “a struggle or fight about political opponents”.
President Akufo-Addo said this during his maiden encounter with the media at the Flagstaff House in Accra.
The event enabled the President to render to Ghanaians an account of his stewardship for the past six months and to harness support for the initiatives he has espoused to change the socio-economic fortunes of Ghana.
He addressed issues ranging from the economy, security, rule of law, good governance, corruption, illegal mining, education, agriculture and infrastructural development.
President Akufo-Addo said he would not accept that the process of bringing people before the law courts for acts of corruption was for political purposes, saying; “They are done because you have evidence that people have breached the law.”
He said his government had received “all kinds of allegations” that had turned out to be false after investigations adding that he would not, under any circumstance, bend to the whims and caprices of people who were calling for the heads of persons in the previous administration without solid, documented and well researched facts.
“There are lot of allegations in the country about people, many of them when you probe, turn out not to be the case. All kinds of allegations have come to my government.
“I would not accept prosecutions being brought just to satisfy the appetitive of people that people should be prosecuted…there should be strong evidence of wrong doing that the law courts can prosecute,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo said, however, that his administration was instituting investigations into some serious allegations and that, in time, when wrong doing was found, those cases would be sent to the courts for prosecution.
He said a lot of work was being done with many of the cases identified adding that formal prosecution would begin soon.
“Prosecution will only take place if it is clearly established that something wrong took place which requires the intervention of the court,” he said, and that there were several glaring cases of malfeasance which would soon be lined up for prosecution.
Source: GNA