‘Inception of OSP, RTI will reduce corruption’
Jacob Tetteh Ahuno, the Programmes Officer of Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), has observed that the inception of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) and the signing into law the Right To Information (RTI) Act has given hope corruption can be reduced in the country.
He noted that some gains of GII consortium consolidated included the increased collaboration between the citizenry, non-governmental organisations, groups, anti -corruption institutions at the local level, Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and Metropolitan Municipal District Assemblies (MMDAs) have began enforcing the recommendations of the Auditor General and the Public Account Committee (PAC).
Mr Ahuno made the observation at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ashaiman Municipal Assembly (ASHMA) and some local social auditing clubs (SACs) to strengthen their institutional capacity in the fight against corruption.
The meeting, which saw the signing of the MoU, was also to strengthen citizens’ engagement in the fight against corruption in the country, through the Accountable Democratic Institutions and Systems Strengthening (ADISS) project.
Mr Ahuno revealed that the anti-corruption crusaders which included the GII, Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC) and Send-Ghana were waging a relentless war to reduce corruption, which was being done by encouraging full participation of the citizenry in monitoring and evaluating the activities of the various public institutions.
He explained that the ADISS project, started in 2014, was expected to end later this year, the success of the project was dependent on the readiness of the citizenry to willfully report cases of corrupt acts to the appropriate bodies for the necessary actions to be taken.
Mr Ahuno said the ADISS project was to be implemented in 50 districts in the previous 10 regions of the country for a period of five years and could be replicated in the additional six regions. -gna.org