CHRAJ determined to seal corruption loopholes – Quayson
The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), through the National Anti-Corruption Action Plan (NACAP), has rolled out mechanisms to address and eradicate corruption.
Mr Richard Quayson, CHRAJ Deputy Commissioner, said: “Our efforts over the past seven years have focused mainly on putting in place systems that can seal the loopholes and the weaknesses in the governance landscape, and provide a strong foundation for fighting corruption.”
Mr Quayson told the Ghana News Agency on the sidelines of the State of Human Rights and Corruption in Ghana National Conference that article 35 (8) of the 1992 Constitution on the Directive Principles of State Policy directed the State to take steps to eradicate corrupt practices and the abuse of power.
The CHRAJ Deputy Commissioner said to address the canker of corruption, Parliament adopted NACAP in July 2014, adding that, “NACAP envisions a democratic Ghanaian society, which is founded on good governance and imbued with high ethics and integrity.”
Mr Quayson said NACAP was set out to address some of the fundamental causes of corruption such as high tolerance for corruption, dishonesty, impunity, indiscipline and lawlessness.
He said NACAP had 135 broad activities to be implemented over a 10-year period, which started from 2015 and arranged under four strategic objectives.
“Over 400 institutions and organisations from State and non-state sectors have been assigned roles which they are mandated to implement and report on,” he stressed.
Mr Quayson noted that “out of the 135 broad activities under the NACAP, 127 have either been completed or are at various levels of implementation.
About 227 stakeholders in the public, private and civil society sectors have, in one way or the other, participated in the implementation of NACAP since 2015.”
He said the awareness of the evils of corruption and mechanisms for reporting corrupt practices had increased and major interventions were being undertaken to prevent bribery and other associated practices, including the prohibition of inappropriate gifts.
“We are automating essential services to reduce opportunities for corruption. An increasing number of institutions are adopting sexual harassment policies to deal with sexual harassment and extortion at the workplace,” he said.
Mr Quayson said through the Public Service Integrity Programme (PSIP) all public offices were to enforce the Code of Conduct for Public Officers, Asset Declaration Regime, Conflict of Interest rules and regulation of gifts in public offices.
He said resourcing of Anti-Corruption continued to improve, which had enhanced the capacity of these institutions to address corruption and crime.
Mr Quayson said the Financial and Economic Crimes Court was established with jurisdiction to deal with commercial crimes and corruption while the Auditor-General was empowered to issue surcharges and disallowances after audits.
Source: GNA