Ghana needs strong men to fight corruption – Anna Bossman

A former Commissioner at the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) Anna Bossman says Ghana needs people with strong character to fight corruption.

Speaking at the launch of the Anti-Corruption and Transparency week, the former commissioner who is now Ghana’s Ambassador to France said she disagrees with President Obama’s assertion that the country needs only strong institutions.

According to her, strong institutions without honest and courageous people, the fight against corruption will not be won.

“We need strong and robust institutions that withstand the onslaught democracy and good governance. We need independent institutions that are well resourced that know and can prosecute their mandate without fear or favour.

“You remember when President Obama addressed Parliament during his historic visit, he stressed on the need we have strong institutions of state as being the guarantors of democracy and the rule of law, he was right and we all believe that…and he said we need strong institutions and not strong men…we actually we do. We need strong men and women to steer these strong institutions, we need to have men and women of strong moral character, courageous and of independent mind who are driven not by self-interest but by their interest in public service.

“In other words, good laws, good policies and strong institutions will not get us very far if we do not have people of good character to implement and enforce and to take hard decisions which may ultimately and very often make them unpopular,” Ms Bossman said.