Corruption Killing Ghana � PPP

Members of the Progressive People's Party (PPP), led by its founder, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, last Saturday took to the principal streets of Cape Coast to demonstrate against what they said was the rising corrupt practices in the country. The demonstration, which was on the theme, �Ebi nom tse yie�, literally meaning �Some are living well�, began from the Robert Mensah Sports Stadium and went through the Starlet 91 Road, Mfantsipim School Junction, Kotokuraba Market, London Bridge and Coronation Street. The demonstrators carried placards with inscriptions such as: �Kick the criminals out of government�, �Declare your assets�, �Scrap corruption, not single spine�, �Yaabor ndadaa Ghana�, �Where oil money dey�. Others were �Chop-chop go kill Ghana�, �We can stop corruption�, �Respect our mandate�, �Stop selling our inheritance�, �Sack corrupt officials in government� and �Save Ghana from corruption�. Addressing the demonstrators later at the party office, near Savoy Hotel in Cape Coast, Dr Nduom called on all Ghanaians to contribute their quota to the fight against corruption, which he believed had taken over the country. He said the fight against corruption was not one person�s business, adding that �if Ghanaians really want to weed out the social cancer from our society, they must stand up against it�. He said because there were no mechanisms to check public officials who were believed to be corrupt, many of them engaged in corruption with impunity, without thinking about its effects on the socio-economic development of the country. �There is organised chaos. There are people who are too bold that they believe because they are part of the party in power, they can do whatever they want, they can take anything they want, they can take any contract they want, they can waste any money they want,� he said. According to him, the 1992 Constitution needed to be amended in order to ensure that the President did not exercise absolute power, adding that �the 1992 Constitution only made provision for the President to exercise absolute power�. �We must change the system so that whoever comes to power, whether NPP or NDC or CPP or PPP or whatever, that person�s power can be held in check by Parliament or by other people,� he said. Dr Nduom further stated that because the Attorney-General was appointed by the President, that person did not have the courage to prosecute public officials who engaged in corruption. He said the Ministry of Justice should be separated from the Attorney-General in order to give the Attorney-General some form of independence. Touching on the appointment of district, municipal and metropolitan chief executives (MMDCEs), he said because they were appointed by and accountable to the President, they failed to work to better the lives of the people in their districts. He, therefore, suggested that MMDCEs should be elected by the people, in line with similar practices in countries such as France, Britain and United States. The Central Regional Chairman of the PPP, Mr Kofi Asamoah Siaw, said Ghana had initiated several campaigns against diseases such as HIV and AIDS and malaria, but the country had not campaigned in like manner against corruption, which he described as the greatest disease of the country. He added that the time had come for the country to wake up from its slumber and wage a war against corruption. The National Chairman of the PPP, Nii Allotey Brew-Hammond, expressed worry about the increasing debt stock of the country through corrupt practices, claiming that Ghana lost GH�4.5 billion annually as a result of corruption. He said the party was organising an essay competition, with a cash prize of GH�200, on corruption and encouraged the party faithful and all Ghanaians, especially the youth, to participate in the competition and suggest ways of tackling corruption.