Address issues of corruption to avert Kenyan-type protests in Ghana – Akufo-Addo told

Daniel Domelevo, the former Auditor-General, has advised President Nana Addo Danlwa Akufo-Addo to implement measures that will enhance public confidence in the fight against corruption. He noted that this would prevent the Kenyan-like protests that recently hit Kenya.

In his view, the current government ought to learn lessons from the protests in Kenya and put measures in place to address the issues of corruption. Speaking at the 2024 Domelevo Accountability Lecture in Accra, the anti-corruption crusader said, “if only President William Ruto would have been minded last year or even early this year to do the things that he’s doing today, I think he would have been a hero. But now, even if he cuts his throat for them, people will not appreciate it. It is too late.

“The question we want to ask is, have the other African leaders, including our own President [Akufo-Addo], taken note of it? It would have been so heartwarming for us to hear from the President. Given the heat in the country and what I have heard from somewhere, I will reduce my cabinet or ministers to 40. If the President starts to do some of these things, I think it will help to calm nerves. It’s never too late. Those who have the ears of the President, it’s never too late to repent and do the right thing,” Daniel Domelevo opined.

On his part, General Secretary of the Opposition NDC, Fifi Kwetey, opined that corruption goes beyond the political elites. “If we have a society that is fundamentally premised on not respecting the character of people or the impact of people, then that society is premised on what you have in your pockets. That is a society that can never simply overcome corruption.

“And so, you will have a Jerry Rawlings [late former President], who will come and three heads of state will be executed, a lot of things would have been done. What we simply have achieved is simply because of a situation where people will go a little underground, and they will resurrect again. Because the real virus is in the heart of society,” Fifi Kwetey said.