The president of Ghana is wielding so much powers and must be stripped of some if corruption can be fought effectively, the 2012 flagbearer of the Convention People’s Party asserted.

Dr Abu Sakara Foster said the president’s role as it stands in the 1992 Constitution of the Fourth Republic makes him a “player and a referee” concurrently and that makes it difficult to sanction his own appointees when they flout the rules.

Speaking in an interview with Accra-based private station Citi FM, the 2008 running mate of the Nkrumahist party argued that the powers of the president must be “limited” because it fuels abuse of power.

According to him, state institutions must be given the necessary powers in the fight against corruption without any executive arm of government interference. Dr Sakara noted that failure to “recognise the need for the independence” of anti-graft institutions has brought about the litany of corruption revelations in the system.

The commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) Lauretta Vivian Lamptey has been cited for investigations by the Chief Justice for abusing her office while the latest Corruption Perception Index report revealed Ghanaians trust the main opposition party more than the Presidency.

Dr Sakara noted wielding so much powers breeds “cheating for your side” and must be addressed.