Centre for Democratic Development-Ghana has criticized President Akufo-Addo’s insistence on citizens who make corruption allegations against his appointees to provide evidence first.
CDD Ghana has described the presidents move as wrong, warning it may deter whistleblowers from providing information vital to the public purse.
Senior research fellow at CDD Ghana, Dr Kojo Asante, speaking in a radio interview disagrees with the president’s comments saying that it distorts the process of prosecuting corrupt officials.
“It should not be the duty of the citizens to produce evidence. People can allege or hint authorities of information they have, which will then trigger the appropriate authorities to take up the issue and adduce evidence against such officials,”
“Citizens have a mandate to help protect the public purse, therefore if anyone has information or an allegation, they should be allowed to put it forward for the case to be investigated over again”, he said.
The President, during his second media encounter yesterday challenged persons with information on corrupt activities by his appointees to present their evidence instead of merely making allegations.
The President said that some people appear determined to stick to their politically-motivated view that there has been corruption.
“This surely is not a helpful stance.”
President Akufo-Addo, therefore, challenged persons with concrete evidence to back corruption claim against his appointees “and see what the reaction will be.”
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