The Director of Research at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), Dr. John Kwakye, is calling on the government to adopt the US Inspector General (IG) system to help effectively fight corruption.
Commenting on the New Patriotic Party’s flagbearer, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s address on his vision to Ghanaians on Wednesday, February 7, Dr. Kwakye said the adoption of the system will prevent corruption from happening in the first place.
In a piece titled “Dr. Bawumia’s Speech: Turning an Impossibility into the Possibility?” Dr. Kwakye said the Inspector General will be required to report directly to Parliament for onward action to be taken on corruption and corruption-related matters or issues.
“In terms of preventing corruption before it occurs, we have suggested that Ghana adopt the US Inspector General (IG) system. The IG, who will be independent and report directly to Parliament, will be embedded in every MMDA and monitor all financial transactions within the MMDA. This will contribute to prevent most corruption from taking place. Since we are poor at prosecuting corruption, it would be best to prevent it from occurring in the first instance.”
He also called on the government to strengthen and resource anti-corruption institutions such as the OSP, EOCO, CHRAJ, NIB to enable them to function properly.
“Notwithstanding, I believe the accountable institutions—OSP, EOCO, CHRAJ, NIB—have an important role to play in fighting corruption. I will, therefore, call for them to be strengthened and resourced to carry out their mandate of investigating and prosecuting corruption to serve as a deterrent to potential culprits. But it has to be said that the surest way of fighting corruption is to start from the top.”