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Public Institutions To Submit Integrity Plans To Special Prosecutor
Henceforth, all public institutions, Departments, Agencies, and Companies would be required to prepare and submit Integrity Plans to the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP).
This is part of the requirements set by the OSP as part of the rollout of the Ghana Corruption League Table, a research-based model designed to assess real and perceived levels of public sector corruption.
The Project, spearheaded by the OSP, will rank public sector agencies against each other on a corruption barometer and the results would be published annually on International Anti-corruption Day.
Speaking at the launch of the League in Accra, Mr Kissi Agyebeng, the Special Prosecutor, said the initiative was akin to a combination of the Corruption Perception Index programme of Transparency International and that of Afrobarometer.
He said the results of the Project would form the basis for enhanced pragmatic suppression and repression of corruption in the public sector.
“To this end, and as required by regulation 31(2) of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (Operations) Regulations, 2018 (L.I. 2374), the project would identify the causes that advance corruption in the public sector including deficiencies in regulations and procedures, deficiencies in administration of instructions (including lack of internal control mechanisms), individual interest (including greed, lack of ethicalness and legal awareness), and external influences (including public attitude, culture and traditions) – to facilitate the prevention of corruption,” he said.
Mr Agyebeng said the Integrity Plans to be submitted by all public institutions would assess the deficiencies in their regulations, procedures, policies, guidelines, administration instructions and internal control mechanisms.
That, he added, would help to determine the vulnerability and exposure of public institutions to corrupt practices and help manage their susceptibility to corruption and corruption-related offences.
“In sum, we will be documenting corruption, measuring corruption, ascertaining the breeding of corruption, naming and shaming peddlers of corruption, accessing the impact of anti-corruption initiatives and taking curative and remedial measures to crack down corruption,” he said.
Mr Alfred Tuah-Yeboah, the Deputy Attorney General and Deputy Minister of Justice, said he was confident that the Corruption League Table would be used as an important gauge by the public sector agencies in managing corruption risks when conducting businesses.
“It will prompt the agencies to review their compliance programmes, identify any compliance risks that may be previously undetected and make adjustments accordingly,” he said.
Mr Tuah-Yeboah rallied the citizenry to support the Government to combat corruption, stressing that the Government alone could not eliminate the canker.
“Drawing lessons from a compendium of case studies from around the world, no government can fight corruption without the involvement of citizens.
“Corruption should be fought vigorously by all citizens. The fight against corruption should not be left in the hands of government alone,” he said.
The Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959) which came into force on 2 January 2018, established the Office of the Special Prosecutor.
The OSP exist as an independent anti-corruption agency, with the mandate of investigating and prosecuting specific cases of alleged or suspected corruption and corruption-related offences in the public and private sectors.
It also has the duty to recover the proceeds of such acts by disgorging illicit and unexplained wealth and taking steps to prevent corruption.
Source: GNA
The Member of Parliament for Nsawam Adoagyiri, Frank Annoh Dompreh, has expressed concern over delays in the release of the District Assemblies Common Fund, warning that the situation is stalling development across the country.
On his facebook page, he described as a matter of urgent national importance, the Minority Chief Whip pointed to what he sees as a growing crisis of unpaid contractors, abandoned projects, and halted infrastructure works in many districts.
He noted that several communities are grappling with half completed schools, unfinished health facilities, abandoned markets, deteriorating roads, and stalled sanitation projects.
According to him, many contractors who have executed projects for district assemblies have not been paid, forcing some construction firms to demobilise from sites while workers lose their jobs.
He stressed that the District Assemblies Common Fund is not a discretionary allocation but a constitutional requirement under Article 252 of the 1992 Constitution, intended to support development at the local level.
In his view, years of delayed releases and accumulated arrears have weakened district development financing and disrupted projects meant to improve living conditions in communities.
He further argued that some payments made in recent years were largely the settlement of old debts rather than funding for new or ongoing projects, a situation he believes has affected contractor confidence and local economic activity.
He described the issue as more than a budgetary challenge, characterising it as a development emergency and a governance concern.
He therefore urged the appropriate authorities to pay outstanding DACF arrears, settle contractors who have completed their work, and ensure that transfers to districts are automatic and predictable.
He maintained that decentralisation can only succeed when district assemblies receive adequate and timely funding to carry out development projects.
He emphasised that stalled projects directly affect ordinary citizens, since they rely on such infrastructure for education, healthcare, transportation, sanitation, and economic activities.
He called for renewed attention to grassroots development, insisting that national progress should not be concentrated only in major cities but extended to all communities.
By: Jacob Aggrey
Richard Appiah, the footballer who killed two children and stored part of their bodies in a fridge at Abesim in the Bono Region in 2021 has been handed a lifetime sentence.
This was after a five member panel of judges at the Accra High Court returned a verdict of guilty against the convict.
Appiah, 32, also a draughtsman would spend the rest of his life in prison after he was convicted of murder.
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BY MALIK SULLEMANA
