Executive Director of the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), Linda Ofori Kwarfo, says the wanton disregard for the implementation of policies and legislations on corruption is to be blamed for the rising cases of the canker in the country.
She observed that enforcement of legislations on corruption in the country has been very poor, resulting in a lot of corrupt practices.
"Ghana is a country where policies, legislations, and due processes have been clearly laid down as to what we should do in order to prevent such happenings but unfortunately, Ghana is also a place where not much is done when it comes to the enforcement and implementation of laid down procedures, policies, legislations that will help us minimize corruption, abuse of power and any form of wrongdoing or impropriety,” she said.
Speaking on 3FM about the Auditor General's report which revealed that the State lost GHC4 million on the Achimota - Ofankor road project, she wondered why the issues of misappropriation among other financial malpractices keep recurring on yearly basis.
Speaker of Parliament, Edward Doe Adjaho criticised the Committee on Roads for its failure to properly scrutinise the project, resulting in a loss of revenue to the State
“Year in year out when we take a critical look at the Auditor General’s report ... the issues that are coming up are not new and I am sure if you actually take time to go through the past ones, you will see similar things. The most important thing is beyond the speaker' displeasure. What else are we supposed to do as a nation?” she asked.
Ms Kwarfo has thus urged Ghanaians to demand accountability from the government on corruption-related issues, noting that could be one of the ways help reduce the canker in the country.
“It’s about time Ghanaians demand more accountability from government," she said, adding that Ghanaians can have that opportunity of window when during election year "to teach our leaders that if they do not do what the law they have passed mandates them to do, then we the citizens will either go to court and follow that long processes to get them to do their work or then we vote them out of power.”