By Eunice Hilda Ampomah, GNA
Accra, Sept. 4, GNA – The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) on Wednesday signed a communique with stakeholders to promote anti-corrupt practices, accountability of office holders, and the rule of law.
The stakeholders include traditional authorities, political party representatives, women and youth groups, faith-based organisations, persons with a disability, and assembly and unit committee members.
There were also representatives from the Ghana Education Service, Ghana Health Service and the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ).
The communique was signed after stakeholders had engaged in a Focus Group Discussion at Amamole in the Ga North Municipality to identify the challenges associated with fighting corruption, unaccountability of officeholders, and non-compliance of the rule of law and institute measures to control them.
Mrs. Lucille Hewlett Annan, the NCCE Regional Director, in her welcome address, said active and concerned citizens did not only complain about problems but made recommendations and participated in actions to resolve them.
The programme, she explained, was to promote good governance by sensitising the public on legal regimes, accountability, reduction of corruption, and living responsibly as citizens.
Mrs. Annan said corruption was not only malfeasance on the part of government officials or people in authority, but acts of the citizenry, which needed to be discouraged by all standards.
She noted that citizens sometimes gave bribes to the police and other security service personnel just to be spared of wrongdoing and said people must be honest in their businesses.
Mrs. Araba Awua-Boateng, the Ga West Municipal Director of CHRAJ, enlightening participants on Accountability, Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption, said: “Rule of Law regulates the way public officers behave and safeguards against government’s arbitrariness,” adding that no one was above the law.
“No person in authority is supposed to punish someone unless the person has violated the law, however, the punishment should also be within the confines of the law.”
Mrs Awua-Boateng explained that corruption was the abuse of position of trust or the use of authority to acquire illegitimate private gains.
She said corruption had negative impacts on national development and advised the public to report corrupt practices to the appropriate authorities for the law to take its course.
GNA
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