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| CHRAJ Boss |
Ghana’s Acting Commissioner
of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) Richard
Quayson, has called for strong support of the media and the citizenry in
fighting corruption, by providing evidence rather than mere complains.
He indicated that Ghana’s quest to nib corruption in
the bud could not succeed if people continued to raise alarms without any
impeccable evidence to back their assertions.
Emphasising how it rendered the appropriate
anti-corruption agencies ineffective in pursuing such cases, Mr. Quayson
charged Ghanaians to be bold and come forward with evidence wherever and
whenever they saw an act of corruption being perpetuated by any individual or
group of persons.
At a meeting with journalists in Tamale to sensitise
them on the National Anti-Corruption Action Plan (NACAP), Mr. Quayson also
appealed to citizens and the media in particular to stop associating suspected
corrupt people with political colours.
According to him, the practice whereby persons accused
of corruption were tagged for being members of a political party in power or in
opposition, was not helping government and institutions of state such as CHRAJ,
the police and the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) to do their work
effectively and efficiently, since their political parties always tend to
defend them by every means possible.
NACAP was developed in 2012 following intensive
consultations at the national, regional and district levels. It was coordinated
by a national working group comprising representatives from CHRAJ, office of
the president, parliament, EOCO, National Development Planning Commission,
Ghana Integrity Initiative and Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition among others.
NACAP is a national plan of action to combat
corruption in Ghana in the next ten years. Its main purpose is to create a
sustainable democratic society in Ghana, which is founded on good governance
and imbued with high ethics and integrity.
NACAP is to build public capacity to condemn and fight
corruption and make its practice a high-risk, low-gain activity; to
institutionalise efficiency, accountability and transparency in the public,
private and not-for profit sectors; to engage individuals, media and civil
society organisations report and combat corruption; and to conduct effective
investigations and prosecution of corrupt conduct.
Director of Anti-Corruption
at CHRAJ, Charles Ayamdoo, said that the media must be bold in publishing
information about corrupt officials and corruption cases. “The media must be
prepared to “name and shame” without compromise. It is by exposing incidents of
corruption that there will be an environment in which corruption is a high-risk
and low-gain undertaking”, he noted.
The media, he cautioned, should operate
in an impartial manner and avoid sensationalising corruption cases. “Bias and
sensationalism can undermine the ability of anti-corruption agencies to deal
effectively with corruption”, Mr. Ayamdoo emphasised.
The Director of Anti-Corruption also
called on journalists to be properly trained in principles and techniques of
investigating and reporting corruption cases and monitoring corruption trends
and practices in the country.
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