International anti-corruption advocate, Mr Raphael Godlove Ahenu, on Monday said fighting corruption was not a political witch-hunting but a good course to salvage the public purse and to build a better society.
He cautioned government appointees and ministers of state against the abuse of political power and commended the government for efforts to prosecute public officers who allegedly abused their office.
“What some former ministers and public office holders are going through now must send a signal to ministers and appointees under President John Dramani Mahama’s administration that they would also be accountable one day”, he stated.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Sunyani, Mr Ahenu lauded the President Mahama’s administration for the efforts to control corruption and thereby prosecute alleged corrupt public officials.
He said: “As a nation we must fight corruption proactively by tackling the growing culture of impunity and lack of responsibility among public officials”, adding that “present ministers of state and public officers who have the privilege to serve the nation must learn from what is happening today”.
Mr Ahenu also the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Sunyani-based Global Media Foundation (GloMeF), a media advocacy, human right and anti-corruption non-governmental Organisation (NGO), said that “public office was a sacred trust and not an opportunity for selfish and ambitious politicians to enrich themselves”.
“I am therefore reminding ministers and appointees under President Mahama’s administration that one day they will surely be called for accountability.
In fact, they will be required to give account of how they executed their mandate and managed the public resources entrusted to them”, Mr Ahenu indicated.
He said despite the nation’s abundant resources, many families continued to live in abject poverty, unable to meet three square daily meal and attributed the situation to rise in corruption, which remained the bane of every developing country and in Africa.
Mr Ahenu urged ministers of state and public officials and politicians in general to perform their duties with a high sense of responsibility, integrity, saying “the time has come for all political appointees to understand that the era where people could abuse public office and walk away unpunished is over”.
He said GloMeF was strongly behind the government and would remain committed in the nation’s fight against corruption, calling on the civil society community and the media to also assist the government’s efforts in tackling the corruption menace and to build a better society for all.
“We should allow public officers to leave office before we hold them accountable because doing that will draw development backwards”, Mr Ahenu advised, saying “corruption fight is not a political witch hunt, but a good course to salvage public pursue”.
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