NDC Parliamentarians accuse Govt of corruption

Dzodze (V/R), Nov. 11, GNA - Lieutenant Colonel Charles Agbenaza (rtd), Member of Parliament (MP) for Ketu South, on Monday said the Government's reluctance to renounce bribery and corruption among its public office holders amounted to tacit approval of the practice. He was speaking at a public forum organised by the Volta Region National Democratic Congress (NDC) Caucus in Parliament at Dzodze.

Lt Col Agbenaza described the Government's resolve for non-reliance on media reports to institute investigation into such debilitating practices, unless it was backed by circumstantial evidences as unfortunate.

He noted that such reluctance being sanctioned at the Presidency would spell doom for the country, if white colour crimes and financial malfeasance would go unpunished.

Lt Col Agbenaza wondered why the same Government, which "relied on the media to hound NDC activists, now, wanted to shun the same medium when the whistles were being blown. Justice is being denied here".

He urged the Government to stem its policy of intimidation, vindictiveness and arbitrariness and rather concentrate on seeking antidote to the economic and financial quagmire that was inflicting hardship on the masses.

Lt Col Agbenaza appealed to the Government to remain in the HIPC situation, as "the number of projects and benefits being derived under HIPC were enormous, as it is being labelled".

Mr Modestus Ahiable, Chairman of the Caucus and MP for Ketu North, alleged that the Ketu District Assembly was fraught with myriads of financial malfeasance, misappropriation, embezzlement, over valuation of contract sums and therefore, challenged the Government to institute a probe into these allegations "in an era of Zero Tolerance for Corruption".

He alleged financial impropriety among Government functionaries in the Region.

Mr Joe Adjaho, MP for Avenor, called on the Government to subject all District Chief Executives and Ministers to forensic auditing as they did to NDC functionaries after assuming power and "see how many of them would keep their heads above water".

He urged Ghanaians to measure the eight years of NDC to the three years of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) reign and compare, which of them inflicted the most hardships.

He said "another four-year term for the NPP would mean the further mortgaging our sovereignty and future into servitude, where the voice of the voiceless, the teeming masses would be trampled upon".

Mr Steve Akorli, MP for Ho-East, said lack of ability to govern as demonstrated by the NPP had plunged the country into difficult economic predicament adding, that within three years the country's external debt rose exponentially to 7.1 billion dollars from 5.8 billion dollars while the domestic debt stood at 11.3 trillion cedis from 9.1 trillion cedis. He, therefore, appealed to the people to vote the NDC back to power since they had corrected their mistakes.

During an open forum participants were displeased about the Government's decision to deduct 2.5 per cent from workers' Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) contributions to support the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS); the astronomical increase in utility rates without a corresponding increase in wages and salaries, inaction of Government to stem corruption and the President john Agyekum Kufuor's numerous foreign trips.