Ghanaians have waited in vain for the endorsement by Ghana’s Parliament of the National Anti- Corruption Action Plan (NACAP), which was developed and presented to Parliament in 2013. It will be recalled that the development of the NACAP was launched on December 9, 2009 by the then Vice President, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama. The policy document was then developed by a multi-stakeholder Technical Working Group led by the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), with significant input from relevant stakeholders and civil society organizations. The NACAP was finalised in 2011 as a policy document that transcends political boundaries and tackles corruption through a holistic approach.
The anti-corruption policy document was finalised by the Technical Working Group (TWG) and presented to the then Vice President in 2011 who promised to do all within his power to get it adopted as a national policy document on corruption. The NACAP was then presented to Parliament in January, 2013. Sadly enough, 18 months along the line, Parliament has failed to adopt the NACAP document for it to be implemented.
GII is worried and finds it unacceptable that parliament has since not taken action to adopt the NACAP document. GII considers corruption as a serious threat to our democracy and the fact that the effect of corruption has been recognised world-wide as constituting an abuse of human rights. Corruption also inhibits growth and development. The honourable members of parliament should understand and appreciate that the numerous cases of reported corruption in the media afflicting our society makes it imperative that it does everything possible to fast track the adoption of the NACAP document now. GII believes that the adoption of the NACAP document by parliament and its implementation should ensure that the numerous corruption cases are duly investigated and appropriate actions taken against offenders.
The fact that Ghana ratified the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) in December, 2004 obliges the country to design and adopt a national anti-corruption action plan and implement it. Moreover, the country’s recent signing of the Open Governance Partnership (OGP) initiative in 2011, a global initiative that aims to secure concrete commitments from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance, should give further impetus to parliament to adopt the NACAP. The inability of Parliament to adopt the NACAP, which is key to curbing corruption in our society and body politic and ensuring national development and growth, is disturbing.
The NACAP is a policy document that requires action by various stakeholders, including the three arms of government, the private sector and civil society. GII, therefore, calls on the speaker of parliament and the rest of the leadership of the house to expedite action on the policy document.
GII also calls on all Ghanaians to put pressure on their representatives in parliament to act swiftly to adopt the NACAP and make it into a living policy document and its implementation to ensure good governance and reduced corruption.
Finally, GII wishes to assure the leadership and the members of parliament of its preparedness to work with the august house to achieve this noble objective so that Ghana can be counted among the nations of this world that not only profess good governance but actually practice it.
Signed by
Vitus Adaboo Azeem
Executive Director
