President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has stated unequivocally that he will not shield any public official found to be engaged in acts of corruption or malfeasance, but will ensure that the laws of the land are applied fully, without fear or favour.
According to President Akufo-Addo, the recent news of the arrest of some Customs officials responsible for the loss of some GH¢1.2 billion in revenue to the state is part of the efforts his government is making to block revenue leakages at the country’s ports.
“That money was going, not into the government’s coffers, but into private pockets. We have importers who evade duty because they split the duty with customs officials. It cannot continue like that in Ghana,” the President said.
He continued, “I want to assure you that, so long as I have the opportunity, and I have breath and power, I am going to do something about it, so we can stop the leakages. I know that if we stop the leakages, we will have the money to do our own development. We are not going to be dependent on some people coming to say they are going to give us charity or grants. We will finance our own development ourselves.”
President Akufo-Addo made this known on Wednesday, 24th May, 2017, when he addressed a meeting of Ghanaians resident in Sierra Leone, as part of his 1-day working visit to Sierra Leone, marking the commencement of the third phase of his working visits to the ECOWAS countries.
The President stressed that “when people get caught up in the net, I am imploring people not to come to me and say that ‘Oh! Nana, this man is my relative, so spare him’. That is the problem in Ghana. You find people going to speak to your wife with the hope of trying to influence you. I am not going to listen to that, because my concern is Ghana and not one or two individuals.”
He, therefore, urged Ghanaians to help him in the fight against corruption, “so that we can put that Ghana behind us, and get a new deal for our country.”
Reiterating his commitment to depoliticise the prosecution of corruption in Ghana, as prosecutions carried out by the Attorney General are described as “witch-hunting” by opponents, President Akufo-Addo stated that “we are going to create the Office of Special Prosecutor, who will not be a creature of the government, but will be an independent person who will have the power to decide who to prosecute. So it will not be Akufo-Addo, but it is the law that is working.”
In the next meeting of Parliament, the President stated that the legislation setting up the Office of Special Prosecutor will be laid before the House, and “hopefully, by the second half of this year, the office will be up and working.”
In conclusion, President Akufo-Addo stated that “we want to turn a new page in the history of our country. We are a rich country. I refuse this idea that Ghana is poor. I will not accept the language that Ghana is poor. Ghana is not a poor country. Ghana is a rich country, and we want to make it a rich country once again in our time. We all need to work hard to realise the wealth of our country.”
Source: Peacefmonline.com
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NPP DO SOMETHING BECAUSE AM NOT FEELING ANYTHING LIKE CHANGE. MY ELECTRICITY BILLS THE SAME, MY RENT LITTLE HIGH NOW, TRANSPORT FAIR LITTLE HIGH NOW, CAR INSURANCE NO CHANGE.INFACT WE THAT VOTED FOR THE PARTY HAVE TO SPEAK OUT THE REALITY AND NOT JUST SHOUTING PRAISINGS FOR THE GOVERNMENT. WE HAVE GIVEN PEOPLE POLITICAL POWER POWER AND MONEY FOR VOTING FOR THEM. DENNIS FROM EJUSU
a leaders at last. Lead oo lead, Nana, yetaa w'akyi
Nana Addo has spoken the right words. I hope the right actions will also follow.
That is what we need to do as a country and we pray for God's guidance and strength for our president to succeed in that course.Good morning Nana...
When you think about it ;it is TRUE Ghana is not a poor nation but by reason of some evil collective people Ghana is labelled as a poor nation ; I believe Nana Addo can do something about this to erase the bad label that Ghana is a poor nation because see the amount of cash being diverted into private pockets ; civil servants; custom officers ; CEO's and you shudder in your boots ; how can people be so EVIL ; and these very people complain about our roads and hospitals and the dirty state of our cities ; for me JJ Rawlings; Jon Mahama and these kriminals in the NDC should bow down their heads in shame !!!!!because Nana Addo's leadership is what we call leadership not condoning stilling and murder at the highest level and talking about moral high ground but at the sametime going behind the scenes and taking bribes and stealing.
Fellow Ghanaians the patriotic and God fearing ones,let us all help Nana to lead this country to achieve better goals for our kids. Let us report them for the retrieval of the corrupt monies that the pen ***barred word*** have stolen.You and I know them, we live with them.
Huh, do you know the development GH¢1.2 billion (new cedis) can bring to this country? That's almost $ 276 million dollars. This would build 240 community day schools or 3 circle alias dubai interchanges, or a whole new teaching hospital plus over $70 million balance or serve $1 million per constituency for a year and it went majorly into the pockets of only 15 people. These guys must prosecuted and jailed.
I feel that Ghana is now born. The right environment for progress is now dawn. I have felt a great leadership has been given by God to Ghana. I have similar vision and determination as Nana has and I feel I am underutilised and would like the chance to do something similar for Ghana, my loving country. I broad background spaning planning and management and I am dying to come home e to hep Ghana how can I do this, Nana
Ride on Nana, we will support you. That is all we need. we are people and we take advantage of the waekness of our system. If strong measures are put in place, we will complain but we will still follow it.If you make the system weak , we will continue to take advantage of it.I am happy you are putting your foot down. That is all we need. A commited leader who will lead and we follow.God bless you.
I am always inspired by the positive words of our president. "Life and death is in the power of the tongue", that says the Good Book. God will surely breath Life into the nostrils of this country.