President

Accra, June 2, GNA - Vice President John Dramani Mahama on Thursday said in spite of financial constraints, the government would institute measures that would ensure transparency and accountability.

He said over the years, institutions established to ensure accountability had been under resourced not because government was not interested in their performance, but because of scare resources that all other sectors were fighting for.

Vice President Mahama said this when a delegation from the Marquette University Les Aspin Centre and their collaborators called on him at the Castle, Osu.

The Centre, which has over the years trained about 72 Ghanaians and 500 in the entire continent in anti-corruption activities, is aimed at providing participants with skill- enhancement on anti-corruption and other malpractices.

The delegation was made of participants from Ghana, Mali, Tazania, Uganda, Nigeria and Kenya.

Vice President Mahama said their programme was in line with government's plans to effect transparency and accountability in both the public and private sectors.

"Government has over the years passed a number of legislations based on these areas, but the enforcement has been a problem because of funding, which is not deliberate but lack of adequate resources."

He said Ghana was lucky with a vibrant media that was up and doing and placing government officials on their toes adding "The safeguards undertaken by the Ghanaian media are enough to make them watchdogs in society."

The Vice President said government wielded a lot of power and with the enforcement of laws of accountability it would ensure that officials were responsible in their areas of operation.

Vice President Mahama said the fact that 24 counties in Africa had held general elections in the past 12 months was a demonstration of commitment to democracy.

Dr Cephas Lerewonu, Coordinator of the Africa Programmes, Les Aspin Centre for Government said 25 new students were selected from the northern regions to undertake the programmes to bridge the northern/southern dichotomy.