[ 2016-01-29 ]

Director of Communications of the NPP, Nana Akomea

CPI ranking: Gov’t’s claim “dubious” - NPP
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has said the John
Mahama-led administration should not gloat over
the recent Transparency International report which
placed Ghana 7th in Africa and 56th worldwide.

The main opposition said the ruling National
Democratic Congress (NDC) got some positive review
in the fight against corruption in the TI report
because of the “activities” of civil society
groups in the fight against corruption.

“Government also seems happy about its claim
that Ghana and Senegal have been mentioned as
making progress in the fight against corruption in
Africa.

“This claim is also dubious. Ghana was mentioned
in terms of increased civil society and
individual’s activism in anti-corruption
activities. This has nothing to do with
government. The credit for this belongs to civil
activists like Occupy Ghana and lmani Ghana and to
individuals such as Martin Amidu and Anas Aremeyaw
Anas,” the NPP statement signed by its
communications director Nana Akomea said.

Below is the full statement:

The NDC government has sought to take some solace
from the 2015 Transparency International report on
corruption. This attempt amounts to a fantasy, a
mere fiddling while Ghana burns from corruption
and a poor attempt by President Mahama's
government to tickle itself and laugh.

One basis for the government's fantasy is that it
had placed 56 out of 168 countries and placed 7th
in Africa.

But the government is not able to say if these
positions amount to improvement, or not.
In 2008, Ghana ranked 67 but out of a bigger
sample of 180 countries. Is 56th position out of
167 countries in 2015 better or worse than 67th
position out of 180 countries in 2008?
The stark reality is that Ghana actually dropped
from a score of 48 out of 100 in 2014, to a score
of 47 out of 100 in 2015.

Quite strangely, while the NDC government seeks
some dubious comfort from the report, it is at the
same time attempting to pass it off as report on
perception, largely caused by false allegations in
the media and also due to some so called "paradox
of exposure". This is supposed to mean that it is
the government's great fight against corruption
and the attendant media reportage that fuels the
perception that corruption is rampant.

If the government’s fight against corruption is
really great, how can the media reports of this
positive and great fight lead to negative
perception against the government?

Government also seems happy about its claim that
Ghana and Senegal have been mentioned as making
progress in the fight against corruption in
Africa.

This claim is also dubious. Ghana was mentioned in
terms of increased civil society and
individual’s activism in anti corruption
activities. This has nothing to do with
government. The credit for this belongs to civil
activists like Occupy Ghana and lmani Ghana and to
individuals such as Martin Amidu and Anas Aremeyaw
Anas.

Government also pledges to continue to implement
some "national anti corruption action plan".
A little advice to the NDC government: just
implement the laws such as AFRCD 58, (as advised
by the Attorney General), the financial
administration act, the financial administration
regulations, the law on causing financial loss,
the procurement law etc.

The poor record of the NDC government in fighting
corruption is rooted not just in perception but in
stark reality. GYEEDA, Woyome, SADA, Subah,
Waterville, Smarttys, etc are not perceptions.

The Transparency International 2015 report
indicates two key ingredients in fighting
corruption: 1) Transparency and accountability; 2)
Prosecution.

The NDC government's record on these two fronts is
appalling. Major financial dealings such as loans
for the GNPC, floatation of ADB shares and the IMF
loan agreement were not taken to Parliament. Value
for money audit for the many sole sourced public
works is largely not done. Mandatory reports on
public procurement to parliament are not done.

The record on prosecution for financial wrong
doing is even worse.
Two former ministers of state in another
government were prosecuted for alleged
infringement of the Procurement Law.
Ghanaians are therefore still in a state of shock
and disbelief over the twists and turns that have
led to the loss/siphoning of millions of dollars
of taxpayers monies in the Woyome affair, in the
Waterville affair, in GYEEDA, in SADA, in Subah,
in Smartty's, etc.

President Mahama’s government this time will not
prosecute. Even when court orders to recover
taxpayers monies are secured through the efforts
of others, the NDC government is unable to recover
the monies.

Even where the government goes into agreements for
mere refunds of taxpayers’ monies, very little
refund is reported. Massive payments of
taxpayers’ monies for no work done have been
regular.

The recent bus branding saga by Smarttys limited
clearly illustrates the corruption friendly
profile of President Mahama’s NDC government.

The Attorney General's investigation into this
matter, found that the bus branding work was
awarded, commenced and completed EVEN before the
procurement process was started, and before any
contract was signed; and that the sole sourced
contract resulted in over payment of nearly two
million Ghana cedis (GHC 2 million). The Attorney
General recommended further investigation of all
state officials involved in this breach of the
various laws on the use of public funds. So far,
what has happened is the resignation of the sector
minister and President Mahama ordering a refund of
the excess looted taxpayers’ monies.

Indeed this profile of President Mahama’s
government in fighting corruption is aptly
captured by the comments of a member of the
investigation team into the GYEEDA scandal: "we
are being robbed. We are seriously being robbed
and we need to be more radical about corruption.
We brought all our professional expertise to bear
but it took forever to get people to say we are
going to act and deal with the people and issues
in the report. We sat people down and made them
recognize they were paid for services they never
did and that money should immediately come back to
the state. The agreements were such that quarterly
they were supposed to be paying certain amounts
and at the end of the year, we have just got a
fraction..."

No wonder President Rawlings has concluded about
the party he founded: "60% of thieves in NDC also
hold positions in government "; and that
“corruption today is no longer a practice, but
has become a pervasive culture"(May 2015).
The create, loot and share must stop.

...Signed...
Nana Akomea
(Communications Director)

Source - Starfmonline

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