The National Democratic Congress MP for Tamale Central, Inusah Fuseini, says the New Patriotic Party government under President Akufo-Addo has shown little commitment in the fight against corruption.
He believes that although the president has created the impression he is doing a great deal to stop corruption, his actions prove otherwise.
Fuseini, who served as minister of roads and highways under John Dramani Mahama, made these remarks last night on Asaase Radio’s current affairs discussion programme Town Hall Talk, in conversation with Kofi Abotsi.
Liberal with privileges
“The first thing that showed that Nana Akufo-Addo was not committed to fighting corruption was when he packed his government with family and friends,” Fuseini said.
“You can’t deal with corruption when members of your government are your friends. It would only mean that you are using political power to extend privileges to members of your family and your friends,” he said.
Inusah Fuseini also argued that the government’s financial support for the Office of the Special Prosecutor has been wholly inadequate to begin to tackle the problem of corruption.
Although the office was a good initiative, it has said not been able to perform as expected, he said.
“Last year, the Office of the Special Prosecutor was only given 10% of his budget,” he said. “How can he use less than 10% of his budget to fight corruption?”
He was equally disillusioned with the government’s enforcement of other legal reforms.
“I am very disappointed we are not implementing the Right to Information Act,” he said, arguing that “it is only when public officials know that they can’t hide under the cloth of confidentiality to engage in corrupt activities” that Ghana will begin to establish accountability in all areas of public life.
NDC being corrupt
Speaking about accusations that the flagbearer of the NDC led a notably corrupt government in the past, Fuseini argued that the former president did not practise what he called “family and friends politics”.
“At that time, the closest relative of John Dramani Mahama in his government was a deputy minister, Joyce Bawah Mogtari.
“We have a major corruption challenge that we have to deal with in this country and it appears to be systemic. It’s not limited to just the politicians, but it’s everywhere,” he said.
Karen Dodoo
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