The real corruption fight is to prosecute your own people - Amaliba tells govt

A member of the opposition NDC Legal Team, Lawyer Abraham Amaliba, has asked the ruling NPP not to get over-excited over a recent ruling on the NCA $4m Scandal.

An Accra High Court presided over by Justice Kyei Barfuor handed a six-year jail term to Mr. William Tetteh Tevie, Eugene Baffoe-Bonnie, and slapped a five-year jail term on Salifu Osman, a former National Security representative coordinator.

Justice Eric Kyei Baffour found them guilty of causing a $4 million financial loss to the state.

Some Communicators of the ruling government see the ruling as a sign of the government's willingness to fight corruption.

The Bono Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwame Baffoe Abronye in a panel discussion on UTV said unlike the previous NDC administration, President Akufo-Addo has shown a strong commitment to fighting the corruption canker.

However, Lawyer Amaliba says their excitement is misplaced because 'it is easy to take your opponents to court'.

Speaking in an interview on Neat FM's 'Me Man Nti' programme, he asked President Akufo-Addo to take members of his administration who have been accused of corrupt acts to court since that is where the real commitment to fighting corruption lies.

"They shouldn’t praise themselves or clap for themselves . . . the test is to take your own people to court. It is easy to take your opponents to court; it doesn’t mean you are fighting corruption. Selective prosecution will not lead to fighting corruption. If you are on a stop malaria crusade, you fight mosquitoes everywhere; you don’t select the kind of mosquitoes you should kill . . . it is never done," he told host McJerry Osei Agyemang.

Citing the Australian visa scandal and other corruption allegations levelled against some members in the ruling government, he said, in other to stop opposition people like him from talking, "If I were the President, I would have put one or two of them before court. But President Akufo -Addo will not do that, he will rather clear you".