The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has intensified effort to combat corruption with the training of Public Sector Ethics and Integrity Compliance Officers.

The officers are being schooled on the National Anti-Corruption Action Plan (NACAP); Nature, Principles and Core values of Public Service; Code of Conduct for Public Officers; the 1992 Constitution; and the Law and the Generic Code of Conduct for Public Officers.

The over 35 Officers are also being equipped with skills for institutional Policing of the Code of Conduct, which hinges on prevention, education, investigation and sanctions.

Another objective of the training is to discuss NACAP and the role of MDAs in its implementation.

Addressing the participants at Ada on Thursday, Mr Richard Quayson, CHRAJ acting Commissioner, said the fight against corruption would bear little fruit without raising the awareness of public officials and the general public on the dangers of corruption and the duty of every citizen to combat it.

He explained that the education must foster a broad societal appreciation of the causes, cost and ramifications of corruption and its linkages to the erosion of human rights.

“It must improve public understanding of how corruption contributes to the broadening of the scale of poverty in society. This should strengthen the citizens resolve to resist, condemn, and report corruption,” he said.

The acting CHRAJ Commissioner also tasked Ministries, Departments and Agencies as well as Municipal, Metropolitan and District Assemblies to provide the public with institutional information on measures being implemented to combat corruption, “how and to whom within that entity the public may report cases of corruption”.

Mr Quayson said “since education is vital in building intolerance towards corruption and encouraging the active involvement of the population in the fight, Civil Society Organisations and the media should be supported to extend anti-corruption messages which encourage citizens to report breaches of regulation and procedures.”

The training, organized by CHRAJ in collaboration with NACAP and sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), is based on the NACAP's strategic objectives to build public capacity to condemn and fight corruption and make its practice a high risk and low gain activity.

The NACAP was adopted as the overarching plan to combat corruption, identify integrity challenges as a major contributor to the high tolerance of corruption in the country.

It serves as an anti-corruption mechanism to institutionalise efficiency, accountability and transparency in the public and private sectors as well as not-for profit sectors.

It also hinges on engaging individuals, the media and civil society organisations in reporting and combating corruption and conducting effective investigations and prosecution of corrupt conducts.

The Ethics and Integrity Compliance Officers being trained are tasked to plan, develop, implement and sustain integrity programmes within their respective institutions, and act as focal persons to liaise with CHRAJ and the NACAP for support in matters relating to the code of conduct for public officers in particular and integrity in general.

The officers are also to act in an advisory capacity on integrity-related matters; monitor compliance with the relevant code of conduct and ethics to enhance public sector integrity.