Enough of the rhetorics; deal with corrupt persons - Emile Short tells Akufo-Addo

Former head of the Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Emilie Short, has called on the government to end the long talk and deal with corrupt persons in the country because eleven months is such a long time to prosecute persons suspected to have misapplied state cash.

The NPP government came to power at the back of an anti-corruption crusade but, it appears that energy has turned into empty talk and praise singing.

Just some few weeks ago, at site visit of controversial businessman and founder of Zoomlion, Joseph Siaw’s facility in Accra, Nana Akufo Addo praised him for his contributions to waste management.

“What we are witnessing here is the modern way of providing service, the collaboration between the State and private sector to deliver public goods. And, in this case, the most important in any city is sanitation,” the President said.

“It is an eye-opener for me. It is about what is possible, about what collaboration can do, and what is possible, with encouragement and proper policy framework, if we have confidence in Ghanaian entrepreneurs. Ghanaian entrepreneurs have to be at the forefront of the social and economic transformation of the country. This sort of facility, seeing it work in detail, is extremely encouraging.”

But anti-corruption crusaders took issues with him, especially when endless scandals had caked around the man, including millions of contracts in waste management which have not been implemented. Senior Minister Yaw Osafo Marfo at an anti-corruption event on Monday questioned the merit of the President’s commendation, insisting it was not the right thing to do.

Speaking on Joy Fm’s Super Morning Show, Mr. Short, who remains one of the country’s anti-corruption voices, said the attitude of the president does not encourage hope in the fight against corruption. He said it has been more than ten months since the government came to power and it is about time he started walking the talk instead of always promising without anything to show for it.