Thursday, October 22, 2015

MAHAMA’S MAN RAISES RED FLAG ON CORRUPTIO

By William Yaw Owusu
Thursday, October 22, 2015

A Deputy Chief of Staff Johnny Osei says there could be chaos in the country if the rampant corruption that has plagued the country does not subside.

“Let’s look at our country as a tree. Corruption has become a canker that is eating into the core of the tree. One day, there will be a storm and all of us will regret it,” he stated.

The Deputy Chief of Staff was speaking in Accra on Tuesday at the inauguration of two committees spearheaded by the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to fight corruption and restore integrity in public service.

The committees include the National Ethics Advisory Committee and the National Anti Corruption Action Plan (NCAP).

He said that there are a lot of developmental problems confronting the country but corruption appears to have surpassed them all and must be brought under control without any further delay.

“I am here because of the President, we have met as concerned Ghanaians ready to raise red flags on our own behavior that does not allow others to survive.

“God has been good to us otherwise a lot of the things we have done or did not do would have landed this country into chaos. We can’t continue to count on our luck!”

Mr. Osei said “there are people stealing huge sums such that they do not even know what to do with the money. If we do not allow people to siphon money through our own negligence, we would remove a lot of people from desperate situations.”

Acting Commissioner of CHRAJ Richard Quayson, giving an overview of the work of the committees, admitted that “corruption has become endemic and pervasive and the impact is grave.

“We are yet to recover from the bribery and corruption scandal in the judiciary that has rocked the country. The story of the judiciary is only a microcosm to the extent to which corruption has eaten into our society.”

He said the approach the country will take in tackling corruption would make us either smarter or poorer,” adding “we should be able to take a measured response of sit and lament.”

Mr. Quayson attributed the high levels of corruption to the low level of integrity in the country, saying “we should collectively work to secure a public service imbued with integrity.”

Charles Ayamdo, Director of Anti Corruption at CHRAJ said “we can have a just society if we all take interest in anti-corruption activities.”

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