Mr Vitus Azeem, an anti-corruption activist, on Tuesday called on the Government to resource anti-corruption institutions; such as the newly established Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), to effectively combat corruption in the country.
He noted that institutions mandated to fight corruption were not receiving enough support to make them research into new ways of preventing corruption; as such, their existence would amount to nothing if they were not properly resourced.
He said the OSP was a special institution, which would carry out an assignment that was not palatable to many people, and lots of efforts would be made to frustrate the Office; hence, requisite resources including offices across the regions and human resource should be provided.
Mr Azeem made this call in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the sideline of a roundtable on Fiscal Transparency and Accountability Demands of Civil Society Organization (CSOs) to Government.
The roundtable, which was organised by the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC), discussed Civil Society’s fiscal transparency and accountability demands on the government, the extent of government response and the way forward.
The roundtable was part of a project dubbed “Citizens Action for Public Accountability and Pro-Poor Spending,” which is being implemented by the GACC and the Economic Governance Platform with support from OXFAM in Ghana.
The project aims at creating public awareness on the budget and to mobilize citizens to demand accountability and fairness in the fiscal regime towards addressing inequality.
Mr Azeem said in calling for the resourcing of the OSP, government must as well focus on other anti-corruption agencies, which already exist but have not been properly resourced.
He also reiterated the need to empower the citizenry to help fight corruption by voicing out corrupt acts.
Mr Azeem, who doubles as the Project Consultant, said it was imperative for every citizen to join the campaign against corruption by not only reporting corrupt practices but ensuring that, the culprits were named, shamed and punished.
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