Integrity must be the guiding principle in appointment – Vitus Azeem

An anti-corruption campaigner, Vitus Azeem has said integrity must be the guiding principle when it comes to appointment and employment in Ghana.

This, he said, will ensure the right persons are put in positions to serve the country.

Asked whether he has hopes of seeing a Ghana with minimized corruption cases while speaking on the First Take programme with Dzifa Bampoh on 3FM Tuesday, May 18, he said “…That, we have a changed political system that does not say that the highest paying person is the one that will be given a position.

“That, merit and integrity will be the guiding principles when it comes to appointment and employment.

“If we don’t have that change leadership that thinks that way then you probably don’t have hope but I am hoping that as life goes on, changes can happen.”

The former Executive Director of the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) said “Some of the well-advanced countries in terms of the fight against corruption, it is not that there is no corruption in those countries but they have a strong leadership that has the political will that sanctions people who engage in corruption or there are people when they realized they have done the wrong thing they just step aside.

“There are examples of ministers of state who resigned because of a train accident, he or she did not wait to be told to resign. He was not individuals involved in the cause of the accident but as a head, he stakes responsibility and decided to leave.

“When we begin to have such people, people in leadership positions that you are, people who can speak against their own party and relatives then the hope will be there, otherwise we have a long way to go.”

On this same corruption-related issue, a Justice of the Supreme Court and former sole commissioner for judgement debt Commission, Yaw Appau says despite several attempts by various governments to curb corruption, the canker only gets worse by the day.

In his address at a leadership dialogue organized by the centre for social justice, he outlined eleven recommendations which included parliament intensifying its role in the operation of the consolidated funds as a measure in fight against corruption.

He further urged the media to hold all duty bearers accountable without fear and favour but advised it is done constructively.

He also suggested that all political party manifestos must be geared towards the attainment of national goals set by the National Development Planning Commission.

Another major recommendation is the need for a political party funding bill.

“It is regrettable to say that though we have been working as a country to uproot corruption or in a better word to minimize it gets worse by the day.

“The audited public accounts of Ghanaian technical universities for the period ending 31st December 2016 found financial irregularities amounting to 57million cedis. In 2019, three years timer, this figure jumped from 57 million to a whopping 170 million cedis.”