Some Ghanaians are reportedly expressing outrage after thePublic Accounts Committee and the Auditor General's report suggested that thereis a high level of corruption throughout the public service. They blamedPresident John Kufuor for reneging on his promise to root out corruption.Meanwhile the presidential candidate of the main opposition National DemocraticCongress has criticized President Kufuor for amassing wealth since coming intooffice to the detriment of ordinary Ghanaians. Evans Atta-Mills describedPresident Kufuor's graft fight as ridiculous and an affront to all Ghanaians.But President Kufuor's government says the opposition wants to score cheappolitical points ahead of this year's election.
KwesiPratt is the publisher and editor-in-chief of the Weekly Insight, anindependent Ghanaian newspaper. He tells reporter Peter Clottey from thecapital, Accra that the rate of corruption is astronomical.
"Thereis evidence of very high level of corruption throughput the public service. Andin fact the report of the Public Accounts Committee and the Auditor General arevery clear on that. The levels of corruption run into hundreds of billions ofcedis (over $86 Million) and there is no doubt it's all about that. In fact aparliamentary investigation into corruption established that the judiciary hasbeen quite corrupt. So, there could be some basis for this allegation," Prattpointed out.
Hesaid President Kufuor has reneged on his promise to fight corruption sincecoming to power.
"Thatpromise was abandoned long time ago. About three years ago, President Kufuorsaid publicly that he was not going to expose corruption in his government inorder not to make his government unpopular. That for me is the clearestindication that the promise to fight corruption has been abandoned a long timeago," he said.
Prattsaid recent alleged corrupt practices among close relatives of government officialshave led some Ghanaians to express outrage against President Kufuor'sadministration.
"Nottoo long ago, one of his ministers was found to have had a deposit of twobillion cedis (about $2 million) in his account. This became public knowledgeand the reaction of the Kufuor administration was to ask the minister toresign. There has been no investigation and there has been no prosecution. So,the commitment to fight corruption was abandoned a long time ago," Pratt,noted.
Hesaid Ghanaians are expressing a lack of confidence in the currentadministration's fight against corruption.
"ManyGhanaians feel a sense of outrage have spoken out against the massive levels ofcorruption in public administration. You know the levels of wealth that havebeen acquired by people in government and their relatives are amazing. In thefirst few months of Kufuor's assumption of office his son, bought a hotelvalued at about $8 million, I mean this is clearly unthinkable. You know theson who was not a businessman before the father came into office manages to buya hotel at $8 million dollars," he said.
Prattreiterated that Ghanaians seem to be displeased about the allegations of wealthbeing amassed by some government officials and their relatives.
"Ghanaianshave a sense of outrage, especially at a time when public sector workers aresuffering unduly. Newly recruited teachers for example have not been paid for14 months; newly recruited nurses have not been paid also for more than a year,and railway workers have not been paid for six months and so on. And in theface of all of these there is evidence that people in government and theirrelatives are amassing wealth," Pratt said.
Hesaid although a sizable number of media outlets are in bed with the government,some independents are saying what is wrong in the society.
"Ithink that the Ghanaian media is completely polarized, and a large section ofthe media is in bed with government. A large section of the media feels that itis part of government, so the media has not done as much as it ought to do.However, it is also important that the opposition parties also have somesupport within the independent media. And also there are a few clearlynon-partisan media and these media houses have been in the lead in exposure ofcorruption," he said.