NCCE intensifies campaign against corruption

The Municipal Office of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) in Asante-Akim South has step up an anti-corruption campaign, reaching out to various identifiable groups in the Municipality.

The move is aimed at sensitising the public on the need for every citizen to join the crusade against the canker by educating them on what constituted corruption and how to blow the whistle as a civic responsibility.

The exercise dubbed “Anti-corruption, Rule of Law, and Accountability Programme” (ARAP) is a Ghana-European Union (EU) partnership aimed at supporting the National Anti-Corruption Action Plan (NACAP).

The goal of the five year programme is to build the capacity of the NCCE, the Commission on Human Right and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the media to conduct campaigns for increased accountability and reduction in corruption.

As part of the exercise, the NCCE has held separate fora with members of the Women’s Fellowship of the Juaso Presbyterian Church and the St. Theresa of the Child Jesus, a women group of the St. Andrew Catholic Church of Juaso.

Mr Samuel Otchere, the Municipal Director of the NCCE, said corruption was a social evil which posed a serious threat to national development.

He said the fight against the canker was a shared responsibility, adding that it required the involvement of every citizen to eliminate it at all levels of national endeavours.

The citizenry, he said, must be bold to stand up against corrupt practices such as a bribery, extortion, nepotism, cronyism, embezzlement and tax evasion irrespective of who was involved.

Such patriotic attitude, according to him, would go a long way to discourage the practice which was a daily occurrence across the country.

Mr Patrick Asare, A senior Civic Education Officer of the NCCE charged religious bodies to join the anti-corruption campaign as a service to humanity and posterity and encouraged religious leaders to use the pulpit to preach against corruption since most of the perpetrators were Christians and Muslims.

Mrs. Janet Kwakyewaa, President of the Presbyterian Women’s Fellowship, said corrupt practices in various public institutions was great source of concern and urged the NCCE to sustain the education for more people to join the fight.