Heads of institutions hinder the fight against corruption – Martin Amidu

General News of Tuesday, July 16, 2019

Source: citinewsroom.com

2019-07-16

The work of the Special Prosecutor would be severely hampered by officials of some government institutions in the country.

If such obstacles are not removed, the Akufo-Addo government will not be able to win the fight against corruption and the objective for which the Special Prosecutor's Office was created will be defeated because it will only have little or no impact.

This complaint was filed by the Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, in an article in which he outlined a list of challenges that the office faced in its fight against corruption in the country.

According to him, some heads of institutions simply refuse to comply with the rules of good governance and protection of the national stock exchange.

"The biggest challenge faced by the Office of the Special Prosecutor as the body responsible for investigating and prosecuting corruption, despite all the powers conferred on it, is not the President. who has promised the people of Ghana to create it, but the heads of institutions refuse to comply with laws aimed at ensuring good governance and protecting the national stock market by fighting corruption. "

Mr. Amidu wrote in his article that "the heads of institutions are unjustifiably unaware of the Office's requests for information and production of documents to facilitate the investigation of corruption cases. and corruption-related offenses, while the President has a number of times reprimanded them for such misconduct. "

The special prosecutor stated that he had the right to prosecute these institutions before the prosecutor if they refused to disclose documents to facilitate investigations.

"The Special Prosecutor's Office Act empowers the Bureau to compel the production of information and documents before the courts against any public institution that fails or refuses to honor its legitimate request. This office can also go to the High Court to compel the heads of the institutions to respect the laws in force in the fight against corruption. The consequence will be that, in accordance with the rules of civil procedure, this office will have to prosecute the attorney general as a representative of the state. "

He also complained of the interference of some of these agencies, whose names he did not mention in the drafting.

"It has also happened that officials of institutions routinely undermine the independence of this office by deliberately conducting simultaneous investigations under its jurisdiction and ongoing investigations in that office only to the abandonment of investigations into corruption and corruption-related offenses. "

Ghanaians have criticized the Special Prosecutor's Office for failing to fight corruption one year since its inception.

But Amidu complains that while his team is doing everything possible to fight corruption, such obstacles make things difficult.

"Some of the above-mentioned shortcomings have seriously compromised the ability of this office to fulfill its mandate, particularly if it must depend on some of these same institutions for seconded staff until it employs its own. Issues relating to the values ​​and culture of anti-corruption work and the indiscipline of some employees seconded by their parent institutions have been revealed and have become public in some cases. "

"What is worrying for this office as an investigative and anti-corruption body is the refusal of the heads of institutions to take steps to enforce the basic rules governing the discipline of their institutions even if they know that their agents are under investigation, have been warned, released on bail and possibly even charged with corruption and corruption-related offenses. "

He said that according to the law, when a public officer is the subject of an investigation, it must be banned, but officials of such bodies deliberately refuse to do so.

"Unfortunately, the experience of the special prosecutor's office is that when it comes to corruption and corruption-related crimes, the heads of institutions believe that the rules on the prohibition and / or indefinite permission of officials do not apply to corruption-related offenses. "

In his article, Amidu urged the public and civil society organizations to support his work.

"The Office of the Special Prosecutor can only fight corruption if the public and civil society unreservedly support it and lobby the political elite to respect the laws that allow it to fulfill." its mandate."

"Until now, the President, the Minister of Finance, the Chief of Staff, the Auditor General, the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice and the Financial Intelligence Center have provided support flawless office. However, the responses of other institution officials to the instructions of the executive branch appear to have been treated with impunity, to the extent of the archives. Corruption can not be fought against the alleged reputation of a few people. Every citizen must be involved now before the chancre consumes all the body's politics, "he added.