Auditor-General advocates for lifestyle audit to stem corruption
The Auditor-General, Mr Daniel Yaw Domelevo has advocated an audit of the lifestyle of Ghanaians to discourage the phenomenon of stealing public resources by individuals for their parochial interest.
He pointed out that the loud appreciation and admiration of riches without reference to their sources had fuelled the menace of corruption and made it difficult to be eliminated from the society.
Mr Domelevo made the proposal when he spoke on the topic “The urgent need to win the fight against corruption to ensure Ghana’s sustainable development” at the 2018 Jurists’ Confab of the University of Cape Coast (UCC) Faculty of Law on Friday.
The Confab was on the theme “the urgent need to win the fight against corruption to ensure Ghana’s sustainable development: the role of the law”.
Mr Domelevo noted that while various approaches had been adopted by successive Governments to eradicate the pervasive corruption that existed in the country, it still remained an intractable challenge bedevilling the nation.
He admonished Ghanaians to stop giving the dastardly act different names but see corrupt people as thieves and enemies working against national development who must be flushed out.
“It is because of the love and deep admiration for people who engage in corruption that is why your roads are not tarred. They are fleecing the nation of our limited resources, so we must stop glorifying them,” he said.
He rallied support for state agencies mandated to fight the menace and called for more radical institutional as well as attitudinal changes to effectively tackle corruption and reduce it to its lowest minimum.
Mr Domelevo underscored the importance of laws in the fight against corruption but bemoaned the increasingly weaker and less potent Ghana’s laws were becoming in its quest to fight corruption.
He contended that the Financial Administration Act 2003 was a better legislation from the Public Financial Management Act 2016, which he said, did not properly address financial management.
He said the dilapidating and devastating effects of corruption on socio-economic development of the country required a holistic approach to eradicate it.
Mr Kofi Bentsil, Vice President of IMANI Ghana, challenged civil society organisations to up their efforts in a concerted manner to vigorously fight the endemic phenomenon.
He called on political parties and all interest groups to desist from rallying support for individuals hauled before the courts for their alleged involvement in corruption and stressed the need for a ruthless and strict enforcement of legislations and conventions against it.
Professor Kwesi Prempeh, Executive Director of the Centre for Democratic Governance (CDD-Ghana) asked Ghanaians to recommit themselves to purge the society of the menace by drastically abhoring the penchant supply and demand for corruption.
He said increased corruption under the fourth republic was an indication that democracy could not be a guarantee for a corruption free society and that criminal law alone was also not sufficient to fight corruption.
He partly blamed the alarming levels of corruption on the careless discretionary powers of leadership, lack of transparency and accountability.
Source: GNA