Government officials engaged in corrupt practices with impunity – US State Department
The United States Department of State has observed that corruption is still prevalent in Ghana.
According to the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2021, “officials frequently engaged in corrupt practices with impunity.”
It also noted that although laws stipulate punishments for corrupt officials, the government hardly implements them effectively.
“Corruption was present in all branches of government, according to media and NGOs, including recruitment into the security services,” parts of the report read.
Citing the Auditor General’s June Report, the US States Department mentioned that graft is widespread in the country’s public sector.
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Thus, has resulted in the loss of huge sums of public funds.
“The honorary consul general and the Ghanaian consulate in Washington D.C. could not account for visa fees totalling $355,000. The Free Senior High School Secretariat misspent more than $3.16 million.
“A former Minister of Tourism retained three official vehicles for personal use after leaving office. The report concluded that corrupt practices resulted in $340 million of financial mismanagement, including misapplication and misappropriation of funds, theft, and procurement mismanagement.”
Corruption continues to be a major problem the country battles with although governments implement various measures to curb the menance.
In 2018, President Akufo-Addo, established the Special Prosecutor office to clamp down on corruption.
However in the US State Department noted that “Since the first special prosecutor took office in 2018, no corruption case undertaken by that office resulted in a conviction.”
“When the new special prosecutor took office in August, his staff included one investigator and one prosecutor, both seconded from other offices.”
