Ghana’s Constitution is a bane to the fight against corruption – Crusaders
The 1992 Constitution of Ghana is a bane to the fight against corruption as it has disarmed state institutions that were mandated to fight the canker, Mr. Emmanuel Wilson Junior, Chief Crusader of the Crusaders Against Corruption, Ghana has stated.
Mr Wilson Jnr, said “the problem Ghana has with the fight against corruption is that we have failed to relook at the 1992 Constitution which is the biggest hindrance to the fight against corruption.
“It gives state institutions powers to fight against corruption with the left hand and uses the right hand to take away those powers.”
Speaking on the topic: “Is the fight against corruption a reality or mirage? At the Ghana News Agency-Tema Industrial News Hub Boardroom Dialogue platform, Mr. Wilson said too much power was given to the executive through the President who was expected to appoint every head of state-owned institutions including the institutions mandated to fight corruption.
Mr Wilson stressed, “if a president or government has all the authority to appoint and ‘disappoint’ then it was expected that the appointee, especially those to institutions mandated to fight against corruption are covertly disarmed”.
He described Ghana’s 1992 Constitution as a ‘Political Constitution’ explaining that “it seeks to protect the politicians, that’s why we have an indemnity clause in it, and it gives unreasonable power to the president, with this, every institution that is built from it, have the aim to protect the politician”.
Mr Wilson Jnr questioned why both former President John Dramani Mahama, and current President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo were yet to make any effort to see to the implementation of the Constitution Review Commissions Report after the demise of the late President Professor John Evans Atta Mills.
He said politicians would not want an amendment to the constitution because of the power they enjoyed when in government, stressing that “till we decide that as a nation we will put pressure on them to let us have an amendment of the constitution, the fight against corruption will be a mirage.”
The Chief Crusader said the fight against corruption was a fight for all and therefore called for a mass movement of citizens to call for a constitutional review to move it from a political one to that of the Development Constitution.
Mr Francis Ameyibor, Tema Regional Manager of the Ghana News Agency, said corruption affected everyone, explaining that in one way or the other, a person could either be a giver, a taker, or a corruption victim.
He said even though the laws of Ghana have stated explicitly that both the giver and the taker were both guilty of the offense, the talk of corruption mostly bordered on the taker while the giver was left off the hook and called for concerted efforts to empower state bodies to undertake their jobs within a protected environment.
Source: GNA