Fight against corruption: Mahama turns on heat
The President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, yesterday announced far-reaching administrative actions he had taken to prevent the perpetration of corruption, prosecute corrupt officials and retrieve moneys wrongfully paid to individuals and companies.
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He said, for instance, that he had instructed the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General, the Economic and Organised Crimes Office (EOCO) and the Minister of Finance to work with the Minister of Youth and Sports to secure moneys wrongfully paid to or appropriated by any individual or company from contracts with the Savanna Accelerated Development Authority (SADA), the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA) and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) by December 31, 2013.
According to him, he had also directed that moneys wrongfully paid to Waterville and Isofoton be retrieved by the same December 31, 2013 deadline.
Besides, he said, legal action would be initiated against the individuals or companies engaged in any acts of malfeasance to secure refunds and or to punish them for wrongdoing.
Mr Mahama announced these during an engagement with representatives of anti-corruption organisations at the Flagstaff House in Accra yesterday.
The meeting, which focused on corruption and efforts at fighting it, was attended by representatives of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), EOCO, the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) and the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition.
GYEEDA
The President said he had instructed the Minister of Youth and Sports to suspend, with immediate effect, all payments under the GYEEDA contracts, except the payment of arrears to workers up to the end of the year.
He had again directed the minister to complete the review of all modules under GYEEDA by December 15 to cancel all contracts that did not pass the “value-for- money” test.
Besides, the President said, he had directed that a moratorium be placed on the creation of new modules under GYEEDA.
He asked the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General to work on the GYEEDA Bill for submission to Parliament.
Subah Infosolutions
The President said he had asked the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General to review and advise on a suspension of the contract with Subah Infosolutions, since the contract had not been signed by the appropriate authorised government representative.
Furthermore, he directed the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources to, within two weeks, present a plan to ensure transparency under the Accra Redevelopment Policy.
The ministry was also requested to review all the transactions involved in the implementation of the policy within three calendar months.
State bungalows/vehicles
President Mahama said he had directed the scrapping of the policy that allowed public officers to purchase state bungalows allocated to them as official residences.
"I have instructed the Chief of Staff, as of today, not to grant the request of any government official to purchase any state vehicle that is assigned to them for official use.
"Disposal of aged government vehicles must be publicly and transparently done," he said.
The President said a scheme was being discussed under which senior public officials would be able to acquire their own vehicles under hire purchase from vehicle dealerships.
"I have directed for the re-registration with GV number plates of all government vehicles to proceed in earnest and be completed by the first quarter of next year.
"As of last week, I had constituted a committee which will determine, as one of the factors for the continuous stay in office of a Minister of State or head of any government department or agency, an annual report on the extent to which the recommendations of the Auditor-General’s report have been implemented in your MDA," he said.
Auditor-General’s Report
President Mahama said under his instruction, the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General had submitted the first in a series of cases from the Auditor-General’s report to EOCO for investigation and possible prosecution.
Henceforth, he said, all MDAs must present justification for application for any sole sourcing to Cabinet for scrutiny before submission to the Public Procurement Authority (PPA).
"Any contracts above GH¢5 million recurring in multiple budgets must be made public through publication in the newspaper or on the new contract management database portals to be launched soon," he said.
Sole Commissioner
The President said he was awaiting anxiously the report of the Sole Commissioner on Judgement Debts and pledged to deal firmly with the report when it was presented.
He said he had requested the Minister in charge of Government Business in Parliament to rally his colleagues in Parliament to ensure the quick passage of the National Anti-Corruption Action Plan, the Right to Information Bill, the Whistleblowers (Amendment) Bill and the Public Officers Code of Conduct Bill.
Collaboration
President Mahama said if the country was to sustain the fight against corruption, all Ghanaians must support it.
"I expect the support and involvement of all Ghanaians. We must disrupt the status quo and create a paradigm shift. We must create the sort of environment in our society that empowers people to take a stand.
"Every corrupt act has multiple witnesses. You may have had nothing to do with it, and you may have nothing to gain from it, but you must be prepared to contribute to fighting it.
"My government is determined to bring the maximum transparency and accountability to public processes that have been a fertile ground for the germination and growth of corruption.
CHRAJ Commissioner
The Commissioner of CHRAJ, Ms Lauretta Vivian Lamptey, welcomed the actions taken by President Mahama to tackle corruption and indicated that they were the actions that anti-corruption organisations expected from the government.
