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Mr Alban Bagbin, Majority Leader in Parliament, has observed that de-coupling of the Attorney General’s (AG) Department from the Ministry of Justice is the right thing the country should do.

     He said such a move would not only reduce governmental control or interference from the work of the AG but would also promote efficiency in the delivery of justice.

     Mr Bagbin made the observation when he delivered a public lecture on the theme: “Corruption and National Development,” on Thursday organised by the Faculty of Integrated Development Studies (FIDS) of the University for Development Studies (UDS), Wa campus.

     The Member of Parliament (MP) for Nadowli-Kaleo in the Upper West Region said for the AG to function effectively it should be independent of any form of governmental control.

     “The Minister of Justice is a political position,” he said.

     Mr Bagbin called on Ghanaians to support the call for the separation of the two institutions in order to bring about efficiency into the country’s justice system.

     He said the move is constitutional and not a political matter, which calls for a thorough public discussion and acceptance before it could be done during constitutional reforms.

     Touching on corruption in the country, the Majority Leader hinted that donor partners are withholding about 600 million dollars they pledged to give the country to undertake certain development projects because they wanted to see a certain level of commitment towards the fight against the canker.

   “Our current score is 49 per cent, so they are waiting to see our next score before they release the funds,” he said.

   Mr Bagbin pointed out that corruption exerts a heavy toll on the country’s economy and “it is only the anger and revulsion of the public against corruption that would do the nation a great deal in the struggle to curb corruption”.

   The Majority Leader also took a bite at governance in the country, saying frequent changes of ministers as had been the norm by successive governments did not encourage continuity in the development process.

    A  president is given four years mandate to bring about change in the country and the head of state in turn appoints a minister and expect the fellow to use one year to bring about the needed change in a particular sector.

    Mr Bagbin noted that a very brilliant minister needs a whole year to understand the sector in order to begin to plan and take strategic decisions to bring about change in the ensuing years.

    He said the non brilliant ministers needs more than a year to even understand the sector, hence, the essence for the appointment of bright people, who would be allowed maximum time to execute their plans to bring about significant changes.

     Dr Sylvester Gala, Dean of FIDS, UDS, Wa campus noted that Universities the world over are citadel of national development, hence, the idea behind the organisation of the lecture.

   Dr Daniel Bagah, Dean in charge of UDS, Wa campus and Dean of the School of Business and Law said the fight against corruption in the country should not be an individual affair but rather a collective effort, “for there is strength in numbers”.