The Ningo-Prampram District Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), says corruption could be uprooted when society deals with it from the grass root.

Ms. Gifty Agyeiwaa Badu argues that even though corruption is perceived to be prevalent at the top, society could deal with it better if it tackles the petty acts of corruption that are promoted by ordinary citizens at the hospitals, schools, work places, etc.

She made this call at the Divine Healers Church, Mataheko, near Michel camp, as part of NCCE’s outreach programme to educate the public on issues of corruption, accountability and transparency in governance.

“We’re telling Ghanaians that we need to be accountable, we need to be transparent; we’re telling Ghanaians that corruption is killing us and we must all join in the fight to eradicate it,” she said.

She said NCCE was promoting the “anti-corruption, rule of law, and accountability” programme, which was sponsored by the European Union (EU), to educate the public at the grass root level on the effects of corruption and what individuals could do to stop it.

According to her, the National Anti-Corruption Action Plan (NACAP), which was government’s strategy at combating crime, targeted educating the public on the effects of corruption, prevention of corruption, and law enforcement which included investigations and recovery of proceeds from corrupt officials.

She informed that institutions like the Economic and Organized Crime Office, (EOCO), the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Office of the Special Prosecutor, were also at the fore front of the fight against corruption, and therefore admonished the church members to join in the fight.

Mr. Peter Akplehe Agyeman, the Assemblyman for Mataheko Electoral Area and a member of the Divine Healers Church, observed that corruption was prevalent in Ghana, because there was always poor monitoring of the activities of people handling public assets or authority, adding that “monitoring is one of the basics we should look at very well to ensure that what government wants to do is done.”

Mrs. Constance Tetteh, an Elder of the church and wife of the Senior Pastor of the church, observed that corruption was also seen with pastors who quoted amounts of money for people to pay, “instilling fear in congregants as a means of extorting money out of their reverence for the word of God.”

She said that if Ghana would prosper, it depended on everybody, and as Christians they were to be the light of the world by eschewing acts of corruption.

This year’s NCCE launch of constitutional week was on the theme, “Our nation our heritage, consolidating Ghana’s democratic games”, with focus on transparency and accountability.

The constitutional week, which was launched on the 28th of April, was currently ongoing and included activities like the citizen’s week which aimed at educating school children on the principles of good citizenship.