We Can Do Better In The Fight Against Corruption

Professor Lydia Apori Nkansah, Dean of the Faculty of Law, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), has called for support for the national campaign to stem corrupt practices to the barest minimum.

Corruption in all its forms, she noted, remained a threat to the nation's socio-economic progress, hence, it demanded a collective responsibility of all and sundry in order to address the issue effectively.

'Ghana already, has in place well-structured anti-corruption institutions. We, however, need stronger will from the people at the family, community and national level to enable them work efficiently', Prof. Apori Nkansah stated.

She was addressing a three-day annual general assembly meeting of the Amnesty International Ghana, at Abankro near Ejisu in the Ashanti Region.

It was on the 'Ending Corruption and Eradicating Poverty: Effective Ways to Advance Social and Economic Rights'.

The meeting discussed national policies and programmes designed to tackle corruption, outcomes and implementation challenges, as well as the role of stakeholders in the fight against corruption.

Prof. Apori Nkansah observed that respective governments under the Fourth Republic had sought to address the problem, yet 'corruption seems to be gaining formidable grounds in our society'.

'Ladies and gentlemen, the nation's wealth basket is leaking badly, causing hunger, deprivations and poverty.

Resources meant for development are diverted for private gains. This is evil and must be eradicated as it deprives people from reaching their potential and becoming all that they were created to be', the Dean stated.

She advocated that office holders be punished severely for corrupt practices, saying just as some nations had made corruption more serious even than murder Ghana ought to do better in the campaign to bring down the menace.

Nana Afrane Okese IV, Omanhene of Ejisu, in a speech read on his behalf, said it was appropriate that those caught in corrupt practices be named and shamed, especially on the various media platforms to engender an attitudinal change amongst the people.

Mr. Robert Akoto Amoafo, Director of Amnesty International Ghana, advised members of the local chapter of the organization not to relent in their activities meant to reduce the incidence of corruption in the country.

GNA
By Stephen Asante/Florence Afriyie Mensah, GNA