UK gives Ghana thumbs-up for anti-corruption fight

Accra, June 1, GNA - United Kingdom on Tuesday gave Ghana thumbs-up for strengthening anti-corruption agencies of State and waging a massive education campaign against corruption.

"Ghana has made great strides.she has a reputation of one of the most un-corrupt governments in Africa, ranking 7th in the Transparency International League table," stated Dr Nicholas Westcott, British High Commissioner to Ghana.

Dr Westcott was speaking at the launch of the "User's Guide to the Whistleblower Act," in Accra, on Tuesday.

The 34-paged pocketsize booklet provides information on the Whistleblower Law - emphasising its importance for many to be interested in the Law and learn how to "blow the whistle" on corrupt, improper and other unlawful acts of other persons or institutions.

The Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition and the British High Commission collaborated to produce the booklet. Dr Westcott noted that on the global league table, Ghana ranks 69th out of 180 countries with a score of 3.9, stressing that in view of the government's stand against corruption the UK Government would continue to support Ghana's effort to deal with corruption.

The British High Commissioner lauded the commitment of President John Evans Atta Mills to eliminate corruption as stated in the State of the Nation's Address, on February, this year.

He noted that for President Mills to statement: "Even if we cannot totally eliminate corruption..we must at all cost reduce it to the barest minimum and make the penalty for corruption so high that it would be something to avoid at all cost," was a clarion call to all to take practical steps to stem out corruption.

Dr Westcott debunked the notion that, "corruption is inevitable so we must simply live with it," arguing that, "the cost of that complicity is too much and the argument that if everybody else does it I must do it is equally self defeating".

He said in view of the positive strides Ghana was making, the UK had decided to support her efforts to reduce poverty, and the measures for the attainment of a peaceful, prosperous, stable and democratic partnership. Ms Anna Bossman, Deputy Commissioner, Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, (CHRAJ) said the purpose of the Act was to improve the ability to fight corruption and other forms of unlawful conduct that negatively affected national development.

She said the law was based on the idea that if ordinary citizens were empowered to disclose, without fear of victimization, the corrupt and other unlawful acts of other persons, millions of cedis would be saved every year. Additionally, respect for decent behaviour and integrity would increase, while the quality of public service would improve with Ghana seeing a speedy development. Mr Bright Blewu, General Secretary of Ghana Journalists Association, (GJA) tasked media practitioners to use their medium to educate the public on the contents of the booklet. He reminded anti-corruption agencies of the critical role of the media in the fight against corruption and appealed to the British High Commission to provide funding for translating the booklet into the major local languages. 01 June 10