He emphasized that the Freedom of Information bill when implemented, will dampen the corrupt practices crippling the economy.
Outspoken Kwesi Pratt, a member of the Committee for Joint Action, has been cautioning agencies, public officials and the entire nation against corruption and therefore charged persons to ensure a corruption-free society.
He explained that the Information bill serves as a yardstick to impel governing entities to publicly account for their activities and called for a quick enactment of the bill.
“The Freedom of Information bill needs to be passed as quickly as possible in order for people to have access to efficient information and so on.” he advocated.
Speaking exclusively to Xfm 95.1, Kwesi Pratt criticized the previous Kufour regime for engaging in a passive campaign to combat corruption as according to him, the Kufour-led government did little to avert the corruptible practices that characterized his administration.
He alluded to the Ghana at 50 celebrations where top government officials of the opposition NPP were accused of financial misappropriation saying there were clear indications of corruption but the accused persons have been left off the hook.
He blamed the society for government’s failure to press charges against the accused persons of the Ghana at 50 probe stressing that the society must lay down strict measures to curtail the plague of corruption.
“This is something for which the society needs to be blamed. We haven’t put in place laws that are stringent enough, laws that emphasize the truth rather than technicalities and so on.”
Touching on the way forward to curb corruption in the country, he said court ruling to sentence culprits to prison is not enough punishment but demanded a much more severe penalty for the culpable persons.
He said persons accused of financial misappropriation and embezzlement should not only be given a jail term but compelled to refund the monies. This he believes will deter people from engaging in corrupt practices and therefore rid the nation of a recurrence of this menace.
To him, “corruption is corruption whether it is carried out by NDC members or NPP members and corruption has no political colour. So, everybody who has been corrupt needs to suffer the full consequences. Indeed, in talking about corruption cases and so on, I am more interested in retrieving what has been stolen rather than giving people jail sentences and so on…it doesn’t work. I mean if somebody stole five million dollars and went to prison for ten years. That’s not punishment at all because in one’s whole lifetime, one could not get ten million dollars [you understand]. So if you steal and all your punishment is to go to prison for five years, it’s an encouragement for people to steal; they come back rich, they will never suffer any consequence involved. So, that is not a sufficient deterrent, I believe that we should try and make the effort to retrieve what has been stolen, what has been embezzled or what has been misappropriated. It’s important to do that.”
He lauded the Mills administration for taking the necessary steps against public officials who misconduct themselves citing that the dismissal of the former Attorney General, Martin Amidu and resignation by former Education Minister, Betty Mould Iddrisu, who have been indicted in the infamous Woyome judgment debt as a catalyst to resolving the issue of corruption in the nation.
Story by Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/X fm 95.1/Accra/Ghana
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