Special prosecutor's office to be ready in six months - Nana Addo

President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has hinted that the office of the proposed special prosecutor will be up and running in six months time.

He said the setting up of the office has become necessary and urgent primarily due to that fact that so much money belonging to the state are finding its way into the pockets of private individual and this needs to be halted.

He said the country could no longer supplement her annual budget with foreign aid while amounts equating to foreign aids are syphoned from the national coffers by certain unscrupulous individuals.

Nana Addo Dankwa was addressing a large crowd of Ghanaians at the Westminster Central Hall in London, United Kingdom as part of this tour of the UK. The event was organized by the Ghana Union UK in conjunction with the Ghana High Commission in the UK.

He said it is unacceptable for unpatriotic people to continue to steal from the national coffers for the nation to continue suffer poverty adding that Ghana is not poor, Ghana is a country of considerable recourses which when put to judicious use will be enough but rather monies belonging to the state are ending up in wrong pockets.

He disclosed that recent investigations in certain areas of the economy have discovered an embezzlement of nearly one point two billion Cedis equivalent to national budgetary allocation to one ministry.

The President said the office will have the mandate to investigate and prosecute acts of corruptions in the public sector. He explained that the decision was arrived at because public opinion in Ghana ceases to have confidence in the Attorney General, being a political officer, to be able to manage such investigations and prosecutions.

He gave the assurance the current sitting of parliament will see the law to this effect being passed and then compilations of corruption issues will start.

President Akufo-Addo observed that, the reason why this has become so important to the nation is that Ghana has to survive beyond foreign aid.

He said Ghana want to be able to mobilize its own resources to tackle the problems of its development.

The President expressed the optimism that when the nation’s resources are managed intelligently and honestly, there is no limit to where the nation could rise up to.

Nana Akufo Addo indicated that the fight against corruption is real and ongoing. He said corruption is derailing the capacity of the nation to use its own resources for development and this must not happen.

The President remarked: “I am going to do my best to stop this.”

On the implementation of the Representation of the People’s Amendment Law (ROPAL), the President reiterated that his government will support the Electoral Commission to implement it during the next general elections.

He questioned why citizens from some West African countries residing abroad could vote outside their home countries and not Ghanaians. He therefore called on the people to make their voices heard in Ghana on this.

Nana Akufo Addo used the occasion to express his gratitude to the people for their support for victory during the 2016 general elections.

Ghana’s High Commissioner to the UK and Ireland, Paapa Owusu Ankoma, noted that the NPP government aims at encouraging Ghanaians in the diaspora to actively participate in the current transformation agenda. To this end he noted, the government has devised policies that will ensure the full involvement of the Ghanaian in the diaspora

He therefore asked Ghanaians living in outside the country to join hands during the forth-coming Home Coming Summit slated for July this year to engage with other Ghanaians elsewhere towards national development.