Our leaders keep stealing because we lack the political will to punish them – Analyst

Samuel Boateng, a political analyst, says our leaders lack the political will to deal with corruption and corruption-related activities in the country, which has resulted in the canker spreading at an increasing rate in recent years.

He stated that despite the release of the Auditor-General’s report and the citation of several individuals for misapplication, misappropriation, and corruption-related offences, they had not been prosecuted.

He emphasised that the auditor general’s report categorically states how people steal, embezzle, and misappropriate state funds but get away with it, which he said is concerning for the country’s development.

Samuel Boateng bemoaned how people perceive corruption and its related activities as the norm as a result of poor handling of corruption-related issues.

He believes that viewing politicians solely as corrupt officials is a mistake and that most corrupt-related activities are carried out by technocrats within various government ministries, departments, agencies, and assemblies, because these technocrats may compel people to pay a sum of money before delivering on his mandate in favour of the victim.

He proposed that the government give the Auditor-General prosecutorial authority to prosecute corrupt officials identified in his report, which he believes will help reduce the country’s corruption problem.

According to him, cases of corruption forwarded to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) for further investigation by the Auditor-General are not the best.

According to him, PAC has not provided a valuable service to the nation by recovering funds recklessly spent by people as a result of corruption, so giving the Auditor-General prosecutorial powers will assist the nation in ensuring that people are duly punished and made to pay back to the coffers.

“People accused of corruption and misappropriation are not sufficiently punished, and as a result, more people steal from the state. In Ghana, we have normalised corruption and stealing. We don’t have the political will to punish those who steal from us. We don’t have to make corruption a political issue. We require strong systems and harsh punishment for corrupt individuals.

We need leaders who are willing to imprison their children as well as appointees who steal from the state. “By doing so, we will reduce the rate of corruption even if we will not be able to eradicate it,” he added.