Participants at an anti-corruption seminar held in Sunyani have called for a national policy on the giving and receiving of gifts in Ghana as part of efforts to stem corruption in the country.
This was after George Amoh, the National Coordinator for Advocacy and Legal Advice Centre (ALAC), an anti-corruption civil society organization, disclosed that the nation has no policy on gifts.
The workshop, which was organized by the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) in collaboration with Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), the local chapter of Transparency International, was attended by members of the security services, media practitioners, civil society organizations, among others.
It was aimed at enhancing participants understanding of corruption, its nature, causes, manifestations and effects and building their capacity to demand responsiveness, accountability and transparency from people and institutions in Ghana.
It was also geared towards mobilizing people to become anti-corruption monitors and crusaders in the country.
According to Mr. Amoh, a policy on gifts will be able to help Ghana to better wage a fight against corruption since the law will state clearly what constitutes gifts and corruption.
Delivering a paper on effects of corruption on national development in Ghana, Mr. Amoh said corruption is really killing the nation because monies that are supposed to go into state coffers are diverted into individual and private pockets at the expense of the state, adding that corruption adversely affects nation building.
He mentioned that if corruption is tackled in Ghana, it will save the nation from contracting huge foreign loans because we will have enough funds in the country to carry out various developmental projects.
The ALAC boss said Ghana�s performance in the Transparency International�s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) since its inclusion in the survey is not encouraging �since our highest score has not been better than 4.1 out of the score of 10, which is the best so far.�
�Certain tendencies like nepotism, cronyism and ethnicity, which are often inimical to development appear to have eaten very deep into Ghanaian social fabric such that nobody seems to see anything wrong with them,� he pointed out.
He therefore called on Ghanaians, especially institutions such as the media, religious bodies and civil society groups, to play a crucial role in combating corruption in the country.
The Brong Ahafo Regional Director of CHRAJ, Halimatu Nuhu, stated that corruption is not limited to people in political positions, adding that it touches all sectors of the country.
�The canker has become a national concern and in Ghana today, the question is no longer whether corruption exists, but rather how to tackle it,� she added.
According to her, corruption is a dangerous social aberration that undermines the healthy advancement of both corporate and governmental institutions leading to economic downturn, unemployment, abject poverty, social unrest and political instability.
She however said the passage of the Whistle Blower Act (Act 720) 2006 has brought some relief by encouraging employees and others to expose wrongdoing in public institutions as the law protects them against victimization.
Mrs. Halimatu Nuhu therefore called on the citizenry to gather courage and report people who engage in corrupt practices, saying �reporting malpractices is not witch hunting and all of us must endeavour to show some sense of decorum and always do the right thing for the common good.�
<<Print>>