By Emmanuel Oti Acheampong
Ghana’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame has at the 42nd session of Universal Periodic Review at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, outlined measures put in place by the Government of Ghana to tackle corruption, which he defined as having a knock hall effect on the protection of human rights internationally.
According to him, the government’s effort to combat the environmental damage which puts the country’s development in jeopardy and also hinders the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) particularly the goals of poverty and hunger eradication and achievement of equitable and inclusive quality education since 2017, has rolled out and put in place the following strong measures;
The establishment of the Office of the Special Prosecutor by an act of the Ghanaian Parliament whose duty is solely to investigate and prosecute corruption, bribery and related criminal offences. This he touted as being the first of its kind in the history of Ghana since independence as it represented the most courageous and significant reform with emphasis on the fight against corruption in the country.
The passing of the Witness Protection Act which aims at protecting persons who assist law enforcement agencies in the country by the disclosure of information on acts of impropriety in all sectors.
The passage and full application of the Right to Information Bill. This law he said, provides for the implementation of the constitutional rights of Ghanaians to information held by public institutions in order to foster a culture of transparency and accountability in public affairs.
The enactment of the new Companies Act and the passage of the criminal offences Amendment Act which categorizes corruption and corruption-related offenses as felonies.
According to Ghana’s AG, the above have been effective since their enrollment in the fight against corruption in Ghana. He also added that the Government of Ghana remains unchanged in the issue of LGBTQ but does not give room and provisions for the violations of the rights of people devoid of their sexual orientation.
