I don’t clear people of wrongdoing – Akufo-Addo

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Monday stated that it was not within his power to exonerate people accused of graft.

He said though his commitment to fight corruption was unfazed, he would not be pushed to act on mere hearsays and allegations against persons in his government, but would let the accountability institutions do their work.

“It is not my job to clear or convict any person accused of wrongdoing, or of engaging in acts of corruption,” the President said when he addressed the 2019 Conference of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), in Takoradi, in the Western Region.

“My job is to act on allegations of corruption by referring the issue or issues to the proper investigative agencies for the relevant enquiry and necessary action. That is exactly what has been done since I assumed the mantle of leadership on 7th January, 2017.

“If an appointee is cleared of any wrongdoing, the evidence adduced and recommendations made by these agencies, after the investigations are concluded, are what clear the accused persons, not myself. None of these agencies has ever indicated any pressure from the Executive over their investigations,” he emphasised.

President Akufo-Addo told the gathering that every single allegation of corruption levelled against his appointees was being or had been investigated by independent bodies, such as CHRAJ, the CID, and, in some cases, by Parliament itself.

He said people ought not to be condemned on the basis of mere allegations because that would be “the law of the jungle”.

The President was emphatic that attempts by detractors to tag him and his government with corruption “will not work” because his government was committed to fighting corruption not just in words, but, more importantly, in deeds.

“The orchestrated attempts by my opponents to hang the tag of corruption on the necks of my government and myself, despite all the manifest efforts being made to deal with the phenomenon of corruption”, he said, “will not work.

“I did not come into public life to enrich myself,” he stressed.
President Akufo-Addo noted that Ghana’s most promising avenue to make tangible progress in the fight against corruption was to bolster and strengthen State anti-graft institutions to carry out their mandate effectively.

Government, he said, had systematically increased the funding for the accountability institutions such as Parliament, the Judiciary, the Office of the Attorney General, CHRAJ and the Auditor General.

“2017 witnessed a 25 per cent increase in allocations to the five institutions over those of 2016; 2018 witnessed a 34 per cent increase over 2017; and the 2019 mid-year budgetary allocation was virtually at par with 2018,” he added.

Additionally, the President reiterated the fulfillment of the campaign promise to establish an independent Office of Special Prosecutor to focus on the prosecution of corruption-related offences.

The Office, he said, was up and running, manned by an experienced, well-known prosecutor, who was an active member of the opposition National Democratic Congress, and cannot be described, by any stretch of the imagination, as a member or sympathizer of the ruling New Patriotic Party.

“His appointment was deliberate to highlight the independent nature of the Office. I am optimistic his work will justify the confidence the Ghanaian people and I have in him,” President Akufo-Addo added.

With 21 officials of the previous administration standing trial over their involvement in alleged acts of corruption or causing financial loss to the state, amounting collectively to the tune of some GH¢772 million, the President stated that their trials were being conducted in the normal manner, with the safeguards that the law grants all accused persons, so that due process is respected.

“The courts will, at the appropriate moment, deliver their verdicts,” he added.

The President reminded the gathering that many of the actions taken by his Government in dealing with alleged acts of corruption, were unheard of in times past.

“The days when the ‘punishment’ of erring public officials was their relocation to the Presidency are over.

“Where prosecutions are called for, they have been or will be initiated. The war against corruption will not be won overnight, but, with political will, it will be won,” he added.

Source: GNA