The President of Ghana Nana Akufo Addo is said not to have anything doing with who goes free or who gets convicted when there are wrongdoings. According to the president, he is only responsible for directing offenders to an institution that is set up for such issues to take the necessary action.
According to the the president, this is exactly what he has been doing ever since he assumed office in 2017, he further went on to state that should any assumed wrongdoer be cleared of charges, it is simply happening due to the investigation that have taken place and concluded.
He as the head of the executive does not interfere with the decision of the investigation as to who is set free or who gets incarcerated. These were the words of the President when he addressed the 2019 conference of the Ghana Bar Association in the Western Region.
Addressing the Bar Conference, President Akufo-Addo stated that “it cannot be the case that people are condemned on the basis of mere allegations. That is the law of the jungle.”
During the ceremony, the President was heard saying that he acknowledge the effort of the opposition to bad mouth and link his administration with corruption, but he also had just one answer for them and that is their plans would surely be stillborn and that is because he did not come into public life to enrich himself.
Listing the allegations of corruption levelled against his appointees, the President indicated that, every single alleged act of corruption is being investigated by independent bodies, such as CHRAJ, the CID, and, in some cases, by Parliament itself and necessary punishment will be meted out to perpetrators in due time.
“From the allegations against the then Minister-Designate for Energy at his parliamentary confirmation hearings; to that against the former CEO of BOST; to those against the two deputy Chiefs of Staff; to the conflict of interest allegations against the Minister for Finance; to the claims of extortion against the Trade and Industry Minister; to allegations of doubling in visa racketeering against the then deputy Minister for Youth and Sports, the then Director General of the National Sports Authority, who, even though exonerated by the CID, later resigned, and the Chairperson of the Board of the National Sports Authority; to the allegations of bribery levelled against the Secretary to the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining; to the latest involving the suspended acting CEO of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) and the dismissed CEO of the National Youth Authority – they have all been investigated or are being investigated by the authorised institutions of our state, and not by President Akufo-Addo,” he stressed.
More so, Government, according to the President, has systematically increased the funding for the accountability institutions of our State, such as Parliament, the Judiciary, the Office of the Special Prosecutor.
Though there has been no imprisonment for corrupt individuals yet , one can realize that at least a little is done to curb corruption in the country.
By Festus Mawuli.
