Recover all stolen money in 30 days or face court action; Auditor-General threatened

12.11.2014 LISTEN

The Auditor General has been given a 30 day ultimatum to recover all stolen and unaccounted for monies documented in his various reports over the last eleven years.

Failure to comply with the directive will result in legal action against him.

Renowned lawyer Ace Ankomah said the action is to compel the Auditor-General to recover the millions of cedis he has documented over the years as having either been stolen or misapplied.

He says letters to conveying the notice have been served on the Auditor General, Richard Quartey, the Flagstaff House and Attorney-General, Mrs Marietta Brew Oppong-Appiah.

Mr. Ankomah disclosed this on Wednesday at a forum organized by the Occupy Ghana Movement and policy think tank, IMANI Ghana on corruption.

Giving a general assessment of corruption in Ghana from the viewpoint of a lawyer, he said Ghana has all the laws it needs to comprehensively fight corruption but the problem is lack of political will. He said the nation, in spite of all the laws, is being devoured by corruption due to the nonchalant attitude of officials tasked to fight it.

Right from the Attorney-General, the courts, Auditor-General, national security operatives, to immigration and Police Officers, everybody has turned a blind eye to the laws whilst corruption is festering in the country, he maintained

"I call this a paper tiger because the term refers to something that looks threatening but is actually ineffective," he said.

He, therefore, charged the current Attorney-General to take the lead in fighting corruption by putting Ghana's existing laws into use.

“My view is that if we are going to fight corruption, the Attorney-General has to tell us why he or she decides to charge this person and not charge the other person.”

The A-G must also adequately resource anti-corruption institutions like the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Economic and Organised Crimes Office (EOCO) to enable them effectively fight corruption.

Many have suggested that passing the Right to Information bill will go a long way to drastically reduce corruption.

But Ace Ankomah remarked, “The Freedom of Information will have no air… [unless] government passed an act stating instances it will not claim public interest privilege.”

He also advocated a speedy discharge of cases pending before courts especially when it comes to traffic offences, explaining that the delay in our judicial system rather breeds corruption as people would want to bribe their way through than going the full haul.

“The system has set you up to give out money, because elsewhere you will get a ticket, and you will pay, if you don't pay your licence will not be renewed and you will get arrested. But here you have to go to court many times to pay 150 cedis when one mauve note will set you off. Now tell me, are you smart in going to court or are you smart in giving the 200 cedis?” he asked.

“The so-called fight against corruption is a joke, it's a joke…the whole so-called fight against corruption has been planned, it is a big farce, it is a hoax, it's a circus, it's a sham, it's phony, it's a mockery, it's a charade.

“The painful truth then settles in, Ghana's government routinely conducts pranks and makes legal jokes at the expense of the hapless citizenry and then sit back and have a good laugh at their expense. And is the citizenry doing, they appeared disengaged….”

The forum was addressed by Joy FM's Manasseh Azure-Awuni, Dr Esi Ansah, a lecturer at the Ashesi University and head pastor of ICGC, Dr Mensa Otabil.

The four are Lawyer Ace Ankomah, Joy FM's Manasseh Azure-Awuni, Dr Esi Ansah, a lecturer at the Ashesi University and head pastor of ICGC, Dr Mensa Otabil. - See more at: http://www.myjoyonline.com/news/2014/November-12th/somebody-is-trying-to-steal-workers-money-caseley-hayford.php#sthash.2qBGCn0p.dpuf