Corruption, A Threat To National Development

Participants at a one day workshop in Bawku have been charged to see corruption as a threat to national development and fight it out of the society.

Mr Joseph Azam Makido, Project Officer for Advocacy and Legal Advice Center (ALAC), speaking to the participants noted that, corruption in recent times, had re-channeled national resources meant for the development of the country into the hands of individuals.

He said the workshop was therefore aimed at motivating the citizenry to apply pressure on policy makers and institutions to reduce corruption in Ghana.

He explained that the ALAC project sought to empower the citizenry and civil society organisations to report and document corruption and its related cases through accessible and innovative information communication technology and the social media platforms.

It would also equip the citizenry with sufficient knowledge of the costs and impacts of corruption on their lives to engage in anti-corruption activism to advocate for change and hold anti-corruption institutions accountable in the execution of their mandates.

Mr Makido stressed the need to improve organizational capacity among civil society organizations, accountability institutions and other stakeholders to fight corruption.

Mr Hakeem Suleman, Senior Investigator of the Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) in Bawku, noted that, in recent times, corruption had become a major issue of concern in Ghana and the international community because of its corrosive impact on the economic growth, human rights and poverty reduction.

Mr Suleman said corruption undermined democracy and the rule of law, which could lead to violations of human rights, distorts markets, erodes the quality of life and allows organized crime, terrorism and other threats to human security.

He indicated that the causes of corruption included institutional weakness, poor ethical standards, such as limited commitment to the values of integrity and self-discipline, skewed incentives structure and insufficient enforcement of laws within a patrimonial social and political context.

Source: GNA