MPs Call For Decisive Action On Corruption

Some Members of Parliament (MPs) have called for a proactive and decisive action by the House and anti-corruption institutions to curb corruption. Contributing to the debate on the conduct of the public officers bill during a second reading, the MPs on Tuesday expressed the conviction that even though there were laws and constitutional provisions to check corruption, much remained to be done about enforcement of recommendations and sanctions against offenders. Anti-corruption Laws The MP for Sekondi, Papa Owusu-Ankomah, said he was not happy that anti-corruption laws were not being enforced and that those who sought to apply them were sometimes victimised. He cited the whistle blowers law as a window of opportunity to deal with the canker but blamed institutions for not performing to satisfaction. Papa Owusu-Ankomah referred to article 58 (1) of the Constitution, which put the onus on the President to deal with the problem, and said there was no way the President could pass the buck once he did not strictly check those he had put in positions to tackle malfeasance of public officials. He, therefore, called on the enforcement agencies to be up and doing to check the problem which is assuming bigger proportions. The Minister of Employment and Labour Relations and MP for Tamale South, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, who agreed with Papa Owusu-Ankomah, stressed the need to ensure that any anti-corruption initiative was supported by the members of the House and the public. Monitoring of assets Mr Iddrisu, however, called for a distinction between the Ghanaian cultural sense of what constituted a gift and what type of gift could constitute corruption. He further called for the monitoring of one�s assets to check if any had being added to those declared and how such additional assets were acquired after the declaration and that assets declaration should be extended to public office holders such as chief executives of public institutions. The MP for Bekwai, Mr Joseph Osei-Owusu, said service to the people must be performed as a responsibility to the people without any strings and inducement. Mrs Gifty Eugenia Kusi, MP for Tarkwa-Nsuaem, said even though the Auditor-General�s report recommended sanctions against offending public officials, such sanctions were in most cases not enforced. The Minority Leader and MP for Suame, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, called on members to play an active part in promoting the laws that prescribed sanctions against corruption and urged for appropriate sanctions which would commensurate with offences to deter persons from engaging in corruption. He called for committees of the House to be resourced to monitor their sectors to check the canker. Female porters Earlier in an answer to a question by the member for Oforikrom, Ms Elizabeth Agyeman, on measures to solve the problems of the numerous Kayayei in the markets and on the streets of the country, Mrs Della Sowah, a Deputy Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, told the House that the ministry, with the support of the Royal Netherlands through the United Nations, was undertaking a US $ 6 million project to reduce early marriage to help solve one of the factors that caused these girls to migrate. She mentioned poverty and ethnic conflicts as some of the factors that contributed to the phenomenon and said the USAID, through UNICEF, was supporting the implementation of the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty, targeted at 8,000 women from extremely poor households with pregnant women, as well as households with children aged 12 months, for a period of three years. Asked by Dr Benjamin Bewa -Nyog Kunbour, the Minister of Defence, whether the Gender ministry�s policy to restrict the migration of people from their areas[of origin] to other parts of the country would not infringe on their constitutional right of freedom of movement, the deputy minister said migration was different from freedom of movement. Other ministers who appeared before the House to answer questions were the Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, and minister of Transport, Mrs Aku Dzifa Attivor.