Accra, June 13, GNA- Mr Brian Sapati, former Executive Secretary of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), on Tuesday called for pressure on the SFO to send the Right to Information Bill to Parliament for the development of stronger human rights culture to fight corruption. He said Parliament should also be put under pressure to pass the Whistleblower Bill under a Certificate of Urgency as efforts were made to deepen the linkage between corruption and human rights.
Mr. Sapati made the suggestion in a presentation at a day's workshop organised by the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) in Accra, on "exploring and deepening the linkage between corruption and human rights."
The workshop attracted participants from the legal sector, the law enforcement agencies, Members of Parliament, civil society, religious groups and the media.
Mr. Sapati argued that if corruption thrived in the absence of human rights culture and impacted negatively on the enjoyment of rights, then it behoved on all human rights advocates to join in deepening of the human rights culture.
He called on the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to be more proactive in the fight against corruption and to collaborate with other institutions in its awareness and advocacy programmes.
Mr Sapati called on the CHRAJ to take a second look at its method of using witness in hearings involving allegations of corruption against top government officials, explaining that some witnesses might not have the resources to complete their testimonies to the end to establish the allegation.
He said Parliament must strengthen its oversight role and the Development Partners to give more support to initiatives in the protection of the citizenry against human rights abuses. Mr Charles Ayamdo, Deputy Director of the Anti-Corruption Unit of the CHRAJ, noted that current democratic practice sought to make corruption a crime against humanity, adding that the right to a corruption free society was inherently basic human right.
"Corruption is always associated with a violation of moral standards and loss of honour. It is a threat to individuals, society, to rule of law and democratic system of government," Mr Ayamdo said. Mrs Linda Ofori-Kwafo, Acting Executive Secretary of Ghana Integrity Initiative, said identifying the right to freedom of speech and expression, the right to information and the right to fair trial, with the complement of an independent judiciary as tools for fighting corruption.
She said open government was an antidote to corruption and the knowledge that citizens could scrutinise their actions should make governments more inclined to serve their citizens without swindling them.
