We are back to the subject of corruption because it is at the heart of efforts to save resources for the common good of all.
Corruption denies our people the needed resources to fix the challenges of development in the country.
Every year the government allocates huge sums of money for various projects and activities to improve the well-being of all, but reports from the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament and the Judgement Debt Commission show that some public officials line their pockets at the expense of the public purse.
Two former Majority leaders of Parliament have bemoaned the canker of corruption on the development process and called for measures to deal with issues of corruption, which they said had become a stumbling block to the country's development.
While Mr Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, who served as the Minority and the Majority Leader in the Fourth and Fifth Parliaments, respectively, said there was the need for a review of certain aspects of the Criminal Code that defined corruption as a misdemeanor to make the law more biting, his colleague, a former Majority Leader and MP for Sekondi, Papa Owusu-Ankomah, was also of the view that as a country we needed to move from rhetoric to action in the fight The Daily Graphic believes the statement made by the Member of Parliament for Biakoye, who is also the Vice-Chairman of the African Parliamentarians Network Against Corruption (APNAC), Mr Emmanuel Kwasi Banduah, was very timely.
In his statement, Mr Banduah had urged MPs to be alive to their responsibilities and rise up to the challenges in the exercise of their oversight responsibilities if they were to make a positive impact in the fight against corruption.
Indeed, as Mr Bagbin stated, if Ghana as a country would effectively nip the corruption canker in the bud, the definition of corruption in the Criminal Code, as it stands now, would first have to be amended to ensure that stiffer punishment was meted out to offenders.
The current classification of corruption in our statute books as a misdemeanor itself encourages the act, as it attracts next to no punishment.
While we agree with Mr Bagbin that corruption is a cancer that needs courage, fortitude and will power to exorcise, we add our voice to calls for the amendment of the Criminal Offences Act and the strengthening of existing institutions mandated to help the country fight corruption.
Submission of accounts after general election should also not be targeted at only the political parties but also individual candidates for us to know their sources of funding and justification of their expenditure.
Although we believe a National Anti-Corruption Action Plan that is in the offing and will soon be laid before Parliament will go a long way to fight corruption, we agree with Papa Owusu-Ankomah that we must move from rhetoric to real action.
The Daily Graphic urges Parliament to muster the moral courage to lead in the crusade against corruption. And that is why MPs must stand up against acts of corruption in political parties, especially during party primaries and during elections by not allowing money bags to reign during elections.
