Politics

Anti-corruption crusaders need maximum support – Mahama

Former President John Dramani Mahama has called for strong support for institutions and individuals fighting to bring down corruption in the society.

When given the needed support, he said, they would be in the position to sustain the fight to stem the canker.

Mr Mahama made the call at the closing of a three-day annual national convention of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission at Pomadze in the Central Region, which was on the theme: Corruption, a threat to national development, peace and security.

The former President  said :“While corruption exists even in the most developed countries, the strength of institutions and the values of transparency have helped them to reduce corruption to an absolute minimum.”

He said, to succeed in fighting corruption, Ghana should strengthen its anti-corruption institutions.

“There should be more funding for those agencies – they must be provided with the required manpower to carry out their job and granted the autonomy and independence to deal with persons found to have engaged in acts of corruption,” he said.

Mr Mahama condemned attacks on some anti-corruption champions who had dared to question some people in the corridors of power who have been found to have engaged in corrupt deals.

The ex-President asked traditional and religious leaders, civil society and the media, to carry out the obligation of exposing the rot in the system.

Describing corruption fight as not a start and stop enterprise, Mr Mahama said, the fight must be a continuous one and all those who have a role to play must never get tired of exposing and talking about it.

He urged governments to be tolerant and listen to criticism from campaigners who expose corrupt dealings.

The NDC leader said, when elected to serve the people of Ghana again, he would strengthen the asset declaration regime to ensure accountability.

He asked Ghanaians to eschew nepotism and hypocrisy as both bred corruption and said, appointing cronies into governments was very dangerous and appealed to religious heads and traditional authorities to speak against the practice.

-GNA

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