Dr. John Kwakye, Director of Research at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), is urging the government to adopt the US Inspector General (IG) system to more effectively combat corruption.
Dr. Kwakye commented on the New Patriotic Party’s flagbearer, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s, talk on his vision to Ghanaians on Wednesday, February 7, saying that implementing the system will prevent corruption from occurring in the first place.
In an article referred to as “Dr. Bawumia’s Speech: Turning an Impossibility into the Possibility?” Dr. Kwakye stated that the Inspector General will be expected to report directly to Parliament for further action to be taken on corruption and corruption-related topics or issues.
“In terms of preventing corruption before it occurs, we have suggested that Ghana adopt the US Inspector General (IG) system. The IG, who will be independent and report directly to Parliament, will be embedded in every MMDA and monitor all financial transactions within the MMDA. This will contribute to prevent most corruption from taking place. Since we are poor at prosecuting corruption, it would be best to prevent it from occurring in the first instance.”
He also called on the government to strengthen and resource anti-corruption institutions such as the OSP, EOCO, CHRAJ, NIB to enable them to function properly.
“Notwithstanding, I believe the accountable institutions—OSP, EOCO, CHRAJ, NIB—have an important role to play in fighting corruption. I will, therefore, call for them to be strengthened and resourced to carry out their mandate of investigating and prosecuting corruption to serve as a deterrent to potential culprits. But it has to be said that the surest way of fighting corruption is to start from the top.”
