The Vice President Alhaji Aliu Mahama has disclosed that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has set in motion a draft code of conduct for the incoming ministers and top level government appointees to solicit their comments and suggestions for adoption.
He explained that after the adoption of the draft code, the government will formally create an office of accountability within the presidency to implement the code of conduct in order curb corruption in both the executive and top government officials.
Alhaji Aliu noted that the draft code will also be circulated among civil societies and integrity bodies to capture their comments and suggestions, and that the government intends to work with other existing national integrity bodies to nip corruption in the bud. Alhaji Mahama was speaking during the launching of a report on the " Ghana Governance and Corruption Survey: Evidence from household enterprises and public officials" in Accra Wednesday this week.
The anti corruption coalition is composed of Ghana Anti Corruption Coalition, (GACC), Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, (CHRAJ), Serious Fraud Office, (SFO) National Institutional Renewal Programme, (NIRP), and Private Enterprise Foundation (PEF), Ghana Journalists Association, (GJA), Center for Democracy and Development, (CDD), Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), Ghana Integrity and Initiative, (GII). Last year, at the request of the former President Rawlings, the World Bank commissioned the coalition to interview a sample of public officials throughout the country and document their perceptions of corruption in the country.
The survey indicated that there is widespread corruption in Ghana parents have to pay bribes to get their kids into school, patients have to pay bribe to receive health, and businessmen have to pay bribe to win public contracts. The survey also portrays alarming findings in the judiciary and law enforcement agencies, as they are perceived by the public as the most corrupt institutions.
The vice president promised the national integrity bodies and civil societies that the government is committed to assisting the Ghana Anti Corruption Coalition bodies to fully achieve their objectives in order to combat corruption, which has been a social canker in the country. He observed that when public officers in vantage positions are corrupt, the morale of the private sector becomes very low and reduces confidence in the state.
He noted that due to unchecked corruption investors refuse to operate within the country, and thus lower the living standard of the people and makes poverty wide spread because government becomes incapable of executing projects. He therefore said that the leadership of the NPP government has a special responsibility to prevent and fight corruption from top down in order to set a positive example to Ghanaians.
Mr. Peter Harrold, World Bank Country Director, warned that the Bank group will not tolerate corruption and will help their partners to implement programme that will discourage corrupt practices. He observed that corruption diverts resources from the poor to the rich, increasing the cost of running business and distorting public expenditure, which is a major barrier to sound and equitable development .
He therefore advocated for a freedom of information act in the country to enhance and empower advocacy groups and the media. Mr. Horrold stressed the need to strengthen the Serious Fraud Office and the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to weed out the "bad apples" in the system .
