Akufo-Addo is losing corruption fight – Anti corruption group

Anti corruption campaigners have expressed their disappointments on president Akufo Addo’s approach to fighting corruption.

According to the the group, the president has set aside a national framework to tackle corruption instead of proclaiming fighting it with just mere words of mouth.

A member of the African Union Advisory Board on Corruption, Daniel Batidam, says it was `unfortunate that the President has failed to support the National Anti-Corruption Action Plan (NACAP), for instance.

NACAP is a 10-year blueprint for fighting corruption that started in 2015 and is expected to end in 2025.

It was formulated based on consensus with various stakeholders and unanimously approved by Parliament as a working document to tackle corruption in the country.

Speaking to Accra based Joy TV the Batidam stated that President Akufo-Addo is busily making promises instead of getting to work on existing frameworks.

“You can’t fight corruption by just making statements. You must give expression to the statements you make by saying the question how. Every public policy student knows that the questions you must ask every policy maker is ‘how are you going to do the things you say you are going to do’.

“We have been on a certain path for some time and I was very, very sad and disappointed when in the President’s first opportunity to engage the media [he failed to mention] the word NACAP, in terms of how he intends to address corruption in this country,” Mr Batidam, who was Advisor on Governance and Corruption to former President John Mahama, indicated.

Another anti graft campaigner, and Manager Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), Mary Awelana-Addah, also urged the president to investigate allegations of corruption levelled against some presidential staffers including the two deputy Chief of Staffs.