Alban Bagbin, Majority leader in Parliament, has observed that decoupling of the Attorney general’s (Ag) Department from the Ministry of Justice is the right thing for the country to do.
He said such a move would not only reduce governmental control or interference from the work of the AG but 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 had withheld about $600 million 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 percent so they are waiting to see our next score before they release the funds,” he said.
Mr Bagbin pointed out that corruption negatively affects the country’s economy, noting that “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 criticized governance in the country, saying frequent changes of ministers as had been the norm in successive governments did not encourage continuity in the development process.
A president is given four-year mandate to bring about change in the country and the head of state in turn appoints a minister and expects 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 dull ministers need more than a year to even understand the sector and stressed the need to appoint 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 organization 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 a collective one, adding that “for there is strength in numbers.”
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