Some heads of public institutions at the signing ceremony
Eleven anti-graft public institutions have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop protocols that would aid in combating corruption and crime.
It is in line with the National Anti-Corruption Action Plan (NACAP) which highlights the need for strong collaboration among anti-corruption agencies towards conducting effective investigations and prosecuting such conducts.
The key accountability institutions are Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), Ghana Police Service, Bureau of National Investigation (BNI), Internal Audit Agency, Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) and the Financial Intelligence Centre.
The remaining institutions are Parliament of Ghana, Office of the Attorney General, Ministry of Justice, Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) and the Ghana Audit Service.
Parties to the agreement are to exchange information on activities that are geared towards enhancing capacities of institutions and also minimizing the potential for mandate overlaps.
The agreement which comes into effect after one month of the MoU requires that mechanisms for case referrals be developed, periodic engagements for the public are held, joint anti-corruption activities investigated are conducted while strategies for effective collaboration between private organisations and civil society are developed.
Speaking at the signing ceremony on Wednesday which was attended by heads of some public institutions, the Deputy Commissioner of CHRAJ, Richard Quayson, indicated that lack of coordination and collaboration has “weakened the potential for institutionalizing a culture of transparency and accountability in public life.”
The need for collaboration among public institutions, he said, had been strongly emphasized at the international level where the first cycle review of the implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption has recommended Ghana to adopt strong collaboration measure among public accountability institutions.
Representing the Speaker of Parliament, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Offinso South, Ben Abdallah Banda, who is also the Chairperson of the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee, said the collaborative agenda spearheaded by CHRAJ with support from the EU needed to engage the citizenry and civil society towards the fight against corruption.
Also present was the Executive Director of the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), Linda Ofori-Kwafo, who assured the accountability institutions of the commitment of the civil society groups to monitor how the agreement would be executed in the coming years.
“We will not only criticize you but we will also encourage you to ensure the collaboration has to a very large extent been able to investigate and sanction corruption,” she added.
By Issah Mohammed