The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has admonished the citizenry to move away from just talks about corruption and take action to eradicate the canker.
It noted that Ghanaians should collectively move away from the talk and act on issues of corruption and report incidents of the menace from workplaces, communities and within public establishment.
“The Commission’s doors are open for people to report corrupt practices at their workplace, communities or any public institution and will protect identity of individual, conduct its investigations to ascertain the truth.
Richard Quayson, Deputy Commissioner of CHRAJ, urged citizens to be alert with other senses against corrupt practices in order to fight it.
He made the admonition at the 17th Monthly Stakeholders Engagement seminar organised by the Tema Regional Office of the Ghana News Agency (GNA) aimed to provide platform for both state and non-state organisations to address national issues to enhance progress, growth and development.
Speaking on the topic: “Is the Fight against Corruption a Mirage or Reality-The Perspective of CHRAJ’, Mr. Quayson indicated that it was time to take collective, decisive and sustained action to combat corruption.
“Amid growing perceptions of corruption, the public has become increasingly cynical about determination, commitment and dedication to effectively and efficiently tackle the menace since confidence in integrity of public office is fast eroding due to inadequate appreciation of complex mix of factors implicated in corruption.
“Lack of public participation in development, implementation of anti-corruption measures; failure to foster local ownership in formulation, implementation of strategies, lack of effective, sustained coordination in implementation of anti-corruption measures, lackadaisical government commitment to, and limited support for, implementation of anti-corruption strategies,” MrQuayson intimated.
He asserted that corruption was largely nurtured and influenced by patrimonial character of society where informal relations, family connections and social reciprocity were reflected in levels of favouritism, cronyism and nepotism.
Mr Quayson added that patronage system also fundamentally influenced formal system, created contradictions between how institutions were intended to operate in principle, how informal practices supplant formal structures and in reality, as a result, public administration and political competition often appeared to be driven by personal ties than formal rules.
Francis Ameyibor, GNA Tema Regional Manager, suggested to civil society organisations, religious bodies, professional groups, traditional authorities and gender-based groups to stand up and fight corruption.
