Anti-graft bodies have shown no sense of urgency on Cecilia Dapaah’s saga – Lecturer

Senior Lecturer in Strategy and International Business at the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom, Dr. Abdul-Razak Alhassan believes the response from anti-graft organisations to Madam Cecilia Dapaah’s saga has been delayed.

He stated that there has been no sense of urgency on the matter.

He said that the various agencies should not wait for individuals to petition them before conducting an investigation.

“The other issue is how slowly the anti-graft agencies have reacted to this issue. There has not been urgency on this at all, and although I acknowledge the statement from the OSP, the others need not wait for people to petition them before commencing investigation into the matter as it relates to their work, i.e., Eoco, the Ghana Revenue Authority, etc.”

The lecturer further noted that one of the bigger and much more extended implications of the reports comes down to the issue of corporate political activity and its implications for corruption.

“The lobbying activities of firms, etc., could feature strongly in any investigation relating to this. We know the minister managed millions of dollars in the sanitation ministry and struggled to explain how 43 million dollars were spent in a recent parliamentary inquiry. I was concerned with her responses, as were many Ghanaians, and you would have expected the government with control of our public purse to feel the same.

This is more the reason why the government should have instituted an investigation when this came up, for obvious reasons,” he argued.

On the issue of the resignation of the minister, he said, “With respect to the letter of resignation and acceptance of this letter by the president and its related content, the president should have stayed clear from suggesting some confidence that the minister could be exonerated after an investigation. I am not surprised people have referred to it as a love letter.

For a president who superintends over agencies responsible for investigating such matters, any such suggestion as is conveyed in the letter could—I am not saying will—influence how these agencies deal with the issue.”