By Nicholas Osei-Wusu
The Office of Special Prosecutor is calling for promulgation of additional but specific anti corruption laws to augment existing enactments so as to adequately fight corruption in the country.
Among such crucial laws must be a Reversed Burden Act as well as Unexplained Wealth law which will allow anti corruption agencies to ensure that, no public officer or close ally appropriates state resources to themselves illegally and pass such assets on to next of kin under any circumstance.
It is in this light this that, the Office is unrelenting in its pursuit of the supposed Will of the late former Chief Executive of the Forestry Commission, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, affectionately known as ‘Sir John’ in which portions of the Achimota Forest in Accra have been allegedly gifted to his loved ones.
The Director, Strategy, Research and Communication of the OSP, Samuel Appiah Darko, made this known in Kumasi at a dialogue on anti-corruption.
The dialogue in Kumasi was part of a project christened ‘Enhancing the Role of Private Sector in Fighting Corruption through the Promotion of integrity in public procurement.’
It focused considered Ghana’s Public Procurement law, civil society’s perspective on Public Procurement as well as anti-corruption measures in procurement in Ghana.
The participants used the dialogue to identify the gaps and also suggested innovative solutions to enhance transparency and accountability in Ghana’s procurement processes.
The PPA and the Ant-Corruption Coalition also used the occasion to sensitize the participants to what private businesses could do in combating corruption especially in the procurement processes since the canker has serious implications not for only businesses but the ordinary consumer as well.
Mr. Appiah Darko, citing the allegation of a supposed businessman who tried to bribe some Members of Parliament in the call for the replacement of Ken Ofori Atta as the Finance Minister in 2023, said the OSP is primarily concerned about public officials and politically exposed persons in relation to corrupt dealings.
He emphasized however, that, the OSP’s mandate will extend to any private individual or organization connected to corruption within the public sector.
The OSP Director noted that, corruption within Ghana’s public sector would be substantially dealt with if additional anti-corruption laws such as ‘Reversed Burden Act and ‘Unexplained Wealth law’ are enacted to empower state anti-corruption bodies scrutinize properties acquired by individuals after exit from public office.
Mr. Appiah Darko assured that, the OSP has not given up on its pursuit of the supposed Will of the late Chief Executive of the Forestry Commission, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie popularly called ‘Sir John’ as the Office is counting on the Court of Appeal for permission to scrutinize the supposed Will towards safeguarding any public asset therein.
“Previously in Ghana, the minimum jail term for corruption was 2 years. Following an amendment to the law, this has been raised to 12 with the maximum being 25 years making Ghana the country with the most deterring punishment in Africa. One of the legally defined corrupt acts is breaches of the procurement law and processes. For the private sector, it is considered corruption if one is involved in bribing to win procurement, or bribing a public officer, or vote buying or selling to falsify poll results or using public office for personal gains. Another act of bribery is dishonestly receiving or buying stolen items. As I indicated, our mandate is to investigate, prosecute to jail the perpetrators and also retrieve all the proceeds from the corrupt deeds”, he disclosed.
The Chief Executive of the Private Enterprises Federation, Nana Osei Bonsu, said even though the Public Procurement law was enacted to regulate procurement by state agencies, the loopholes are compromising the private sector players to engage in corrupt dealings with the view to remaining in business hence the need to educate them to support national efforts at ensuring integrity in the processes.
He noted that “it’s come to light that, during various prosecutions, that a lot of underhand dealings go on there. So now what we’re trying to do is get the private sector to look at the processes and see if there any areas they think should be improved, and also how the private sector can protect itself. If you give 10 Cedis as inducement to get the contract, the other guy may give 20 Cedis but your 10 Cedis doesn’t come back to you. So that keeps escalating and things keep going on so don’t give at all, resist!”
The Executive Secretary of the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition, Mrs. Beauty Emefa Narteh, described corruption as a major setback to national development for which there is a need for concerted efforts at dealing with it.
“We’ve realized that over the years, the focus has always been on public sector when we’re talking about corruption because the public sector is seen as those who commit the crime of corruption against the nation. But we’ve also realized that when it comes to issues of public procurement, the public sector interfaces with the private sector
So we cannot be talking about corrupt without talking about the private sector as part of this process”, she said.
The dialogue, which brought together players in the private sector including small scale businesses and artisans, had resource persons from the Office of the Special Prosecutor, Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition and the Public Procurement Authority.
It was organized by the Private Enterprise Federation in partnership with Good Governance Africa, a pan African anti-corruption Think Thank.
