Stop waiting for Special Prosecutor and deal with corruption - Akufo-Addo told

Executive Officer of the Ghana Integrity Initiative(GII), Linda Ofori Kwafo has asked President Nana Akufo-Addo to immediately deal with issues of corruption that have surfaced during his early days in office and stop waiting for the Office of the Special Prosecutor's bill to be passed.

According to the GII boss, the President would lose the goodwill that ensured his victory in the 2016 elections if corruption is not tackled immediately.

Speaking on the sideline of a round table discussion on good corporate governance in Accra, Madam Kwafo said Ghanaians cannot wait for the passage of the bill before corrupt acts are punished.

"If care is not taken, the goodwill with which the President convinced many of Ghanaians to vote for him on the grounds of dealing with the canker would be lost," she stated.

She stressed that the action must be now and Ghanaians must immediately see something happening as far as dealing with corruption is concerned.

Ghanaians she said, believe in the law and its framework and wish the President employs the available laws to punish corrupt officials, adding, there are several allegations of corruption that have come to the fore since the new government took office, but it appears Ghana is marking time in dealing with those issues.

President Akufo-Addo has maintained that the creation of the Office of the Special Prosecutor's office will take away the perception or reality of partisanship in the area of public prosecution.

But the attempt to set up the office suffered a hitch in Parliament after the Minority vehemently raised issues of procedural breaches.

Read also: Gov’t withdraws controversial Special Prosecutor Bill from Parliament

They argued the Bill ought to have gone through the 14-day mandatory period of maturity after gazetting and publication before being laid.

The GII Executive director joins calls by some legal practitioners who have said the Attorney General must be allowed to deal with issues of corruption instead of waiting for the Office of the Special Prosecutor.