Some of the participants
Some civic actors have lamented alleged recurring of corruption cases in Ghana’s public sector.
They observed that institutional, systemic, and other policy failures hindering national progress are man-made.
They have, therefore, called for urgent personal and collective reform as well as unified effort to make Ghana work for current and future generations.
This came to light at a zonal workshop for civic actors on the Auditor-General’s Report and the CitizensEye App in Takoradi.
The workshop was organised by a coalition led by the African Centre for Energy Policy. It formed part of an ‘Anti-Corruption Initiative for Enhancing Governance and Accountability’ project.
The Executive Director of African Women International, Araba Dennis, described Ghana’s poor ranking on the Corruption Perceptions Index as deeply embarrassing.
Ms. Dennis therefore called for collective action to restore the nation’s image. She rejected excuses rooted in colonial legacies or the local phrase “Aban Adwuma Wosoya,” to wit “government work is for sale.”
“Our country is now ours – we cannot drag its institutions into the mud,” she stressed.
For her part, the Western Regional Director of the Ghana Audit Service, Madam Monica Agu, stressed the need for Ghanaians to adopt a mindset of integrity, action, and commitment.
“Doing the right thing, even in small ways, drives the change we desire. We should let our righteousness grow our nation,” she noted.
Madam Agu emphasised that Ghana’s development is not the duty of one person or a few elites, but requires every citizen’s involvement.
Director of Performance at the Ghana Audit Service, Roberta Ntim, outlined the agency’s mandate under its establishing acts – to audit all government institutions and ensure budgets and allocations are used for intended purposes.
She highlighted prevalent infractions, including wrongful spending, botched infrastructure projects, embezzlement, and misappropriation.
She called for active citizen involvement in resource management and introduced the CitizensEye App for reporting wrongdoing to the gathering.
Ms. Ntim encouraged the participants to use the App effectively to combat malfeasance and safeguard the nation.
She revealed that the App, launched in 2019, has been used to lodge 1,277 complaints on issues like faulty infrastructure, ghost names in schools, diverted foodstuffs, pressures from the double-track senior high school (SHS) system, bribery, and corruption.
Local Accountability Network Convenor, Ebo Barker, demanded stricter accountability for corrupt officials and insisted that they serve jail terms, refund stolen funds, and uphold the law without nepotism or favouritism.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi