Nana Addo Can’t Fight Corruption – Dr. Apaak

The Member of Parliament for Builsa South in the Upper East Region, Dr. Clement Abass Apaak has cast doubts over President Nana Akufo Addo’s commitment to fight the deep- seated endemic corruption in his government.

He said it is clear claims by the government to be fighting corruption is fake, self-seeking and that Ghanaians should doubt that Nana Addo has the capacity, political will and has never truly been interested in fighting corruption as he claimed adopting the Anas principle.

In the view of the former convener of the Forum for Governance and Justice (FGJ), the President rather promotes his appointees implicated in corruption scandals instead of punishing them to serve as deterrent to others.

He is sure the posture by the Nana Akufo-Addo-led government is a major setback to Martin Amidu executing his mandate as the Special Prosecutor.

Amidu Take

Dr. Apaak’s comments comes days after Mr. Amidu had in another letter, catalogued litany of complaints his office faces in the fight against corruption, accusing heads of state institutions as deliberately impeding the mandate of his office.

He had stated that there have also been cases where some heads of institutions have made it their habit to interfere with and undermine the independence of his Office by deliberately running concurrent investigations falling within the jurisdiction of his Office with on-going investigations in this Office for the sole purpose of aborting investigations into corruption and corruption-related offences.

But the Builsa South MP in an interview with THE NEW PUBLISHER said he could not have agreed more with Mr. Amidu.

“If you look at the complains of the Special Prosecutor today, it is clear that by implication the very office they have created, the very person they have selected as the panacea in the fight against corruption has made comments implying that government appointees and government officials under this government have thwarted the efforts of the Special Prosecutor in his quest to execute the mandate for which his office came into being. In any way, it is a paradox corruption is rife under the current administration”.

He argued that the government is not willing to do what is required to ensure that the needed information and documentation required by Mr. Amidu is available for him to execute his mandate.

“When you have a Presidential Staffer who was caught on video by Tiger Eye PI allegedly taking bribe and conducting himself in way that is contrary to the position he was made to occupy and yet the President chose not to fire him, but only to accept his resignation…” Dr. Apaak stated.

He continued: “Whereupon Tiger Eye went to lodge a full complaint in the Office of the Special Prosecutor, then what was the basis for an appointed minister of the president to conduct an investigation into a matter that was fully known to have been lodged in the office of the Special Prosecutor?”

The former FGJ convener said the parallel investigation instructed by the said Minster is “an attempt to prevent the Special Prosecutor from proceeding and to white wash the clear damaging evidence that corruption can be traced all the way to the office of the president.”

Most Corrupt Gov’t

“Ghanaians are watching because either way if Martin Amidu is unable to do his work as a result on impediments put on his way by government political appointees and by Public Civil Servants, it clearly shows that government political appointees have something to hide or they have been instructed not to cooperate with the Office of the Special Prosecutor” he claimed.

Cataloguing series of corruption scandals that have hit the Nana Addo government among others “Cash for seat scandal; the Ghana Cylinder Manufacturing Company scandal; Metro Mass Transport scandal; Kelni GVG Contract; $12m Oslo building saga and the former Upper East Regional Minister negotiating with a journalist to drop a story, Dr. Apaak is sure if Amidu is allowed to do his work, the likelihood is that he would uncover and expose the rot that “some of us have long believed is occurring and being carried out by this government.”

The Builsa South MP noted that instead of these entities and individuals being punished to serve as a deterrent to others, they have all been rewarded by president Nana Addo.

We are dealing with the most corrupt government in the history of Ghana adding that “the government and the office of the president has become a clearing agent”.

 

Story By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson