General News of Wednesday, 15 October 2003

Source: GNA

Purge yourself of corrupt functionaries - NDC to Gov't

Accra, Oct. 14, GNA - The National Democratic Congress (NDC) says President John Agyekum Kufuor is obliged to prove his commitment to his own slogan of "Zero Tolerance" for corruption by ordering investigations into alleged cases of corruption against his appointees.

A statement issued and signed by Dr Nii Josiah Ayeh, General Secretary of NDC, said blaming the media and raking up cases against the former NDC government officials would not distract Ghanaians' attention from the corruption that has engulfed the present administration.

The statement reminded President Kufuor and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Government that this was not the first time that the Transparency International had issued a report on perceived corruption in the country.

It said the NDC government treated the Transparency International Report as valuable inputs into the national effort to curb corruption. The statement said when the NPP was in opposition it used previous reports as part of its arsenal in its charges of corruption against the then NDC Government.

The statement said the NDC was, therefore, surprised that the NPP Government had been at so much pains to dismiss this year's version of the Report.

The statement noted that it was time that the NPP Government took transparency and accountability more seriously by moving beyond political rhetoric adding that Ghanaians had become aware of the NPP's old tricks of always finding scapegoats for its problems.