Private citizens should be allowed to prosecute corruption cases – Prempeh

Private citizens in Ghana should be permitted to prosecute corruption cases in Ghana, Professor Henry Kwesi Prempeh, the Director of the Centre for Democratic Development-Ghana (CDD-Ghana), has said.

He noted that this will help in the fight against corruption especially when the institutions tasked to fight corruption seem not be to be doing enough on this development.

In most advanced countries with best practices, he said, private individuals are allowed to prosecute corrupt officials.

“Why can’t I take my case to court prosecute the case myself. It happens in other country,” Professor Prempeh said during the Ghana National Forum on Political Party Manifesto, organized by Media General in partnership with Penplusbytes on Wednesday October, 14.

Touching on whether or not political party manifestos play significant roles in the fight against graft, he noted that the documents actually do play a key role in the fight against corruption.

He explained that the documents give voters and the general public a fair idea of which the political parties take the issue of corruption seriously especially ahead of major elections.

“When you look at the manifesto as to whether manifestos matter at all when it comes to corruption, I think the answer to that ought to be yes. Manifestos do matter.

“It appears that the parties themselves recognize that manifestos matter.

“NPP in opposition 2016 trying to get in promises a whole lot more than the NDC does and that it is consistent with what we see, that there is a tendency on the part of challengers to raise the profile on corruption issues during election campaigns as a way to signal that they would do better if elected to office.“

Sharing his perspectives on this topic, team leader at the Department for International Development (DFID) and Strengthening Action Against Corruption (STAAC) Howard Tucker told Ghanaian politicians ahead of the December 7 presidential and parliamentary elections that they cannot just make promises to fight corruption for votes and go to sleep after winning.

He said Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) will hold politicians accountability on their plans to fight corruption and ensure that they implement those plans.

“Politicians must understand that they can no longer use corruption as a tool to win electoral votes.

“The citizens of Ghana and the CSOs will hold you to your promises and maintain pressure on government to ensure that they fulfil their promises.”