Editorial: Let’s support efforts to root out corruption!

The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Saturday talked tough when he reiterated his determination to deal with allegations of corruption against his administration.

He said as a leader of the country, he was not going to preside over corrupt dealings in his administration, and he revealed that he has placed the relevant investigative agencies on alert to investigate corrupt allegations.

The President also asked those who make the allegations of corruption to be prepared to support their claim.

“I am not going to preside over a government that will support corruption in the country. We need to deal with it” he said.

The tough stand by the President is reminiscence of those that were taken by his predecessors in the past.

Indeed, all the leaders we have had since embarking on the Fourth Republican journey, committed themselves to fighting corruption but, none of them can say in reality that he fought corruption and succeeded.

In fact, the corrupt allegations being levelled against former government appointees attest to the fact that the previous government did not win the war against corruption.

The Ghanaian Times does not have any reason to doubt the capabilities of President Nana Akufo-Addo to fight corruption, but we are apprehensive about the investigative agencies that would help him to prosecute the anti-corruption agenda.

Unless we are dealing with agencies that we do not already know, then we can confidently hope that the war against corruption would be won.

Indeed, the investigative agencies were the same agencies that worked with former President John Mahama, and presidents before him, but were unable to deal with corruption during their tenure.

These are the same agencies that could not prosecute persons linked directly to corrupt activities in the past, so how do we expect them to deal with similar actions today?

We appreciate the tough stands of the President and believe that he would walk the talk. But we expect that the investigative agencies would rid themselves of the corrupt elements that made it impossible for past presidents to succeed.

That is the only way that they can mount the moral high grounds to pursue and prosecute corrupt officials successfully.

The President means well, but if the security agencies sleep on the job, the President and the country may lose the war against corruption.

It is our hope that not only the war would be won, but corruption would be made an expensive enterprise to indulge in.

We must all support the President to deal with corruption once and for all.