Corruption – What A Sick Country That Is Ghana

It is only in a sick country where grand corruption is normalised that people caught stealing are free to walk the streets and possibly dissipate the stolen money or conceal it over a year after they were caught.

In August 2019, a journalist, not the Police, National Security, BNI (now NIB) or EOCO equipped and paid by the state, caught a big thief. The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the Office of Special Prosecutor (OSP) quickly started a probe on the back of Manasseh Azure Awuni’s “Contracts for sale” investigative piece aired on JoyNews.

CHRAJ issued a report on October 27, 2020, finding him guilty of the corrupt conduct of winning huge government contracts with his three-year-old company and subsidiaries and selling them. People who do not know what bitumen smells like getting road contracts to sell to actual road contractors.

The President, who had suspended Adjenim Boateng Adjei former CEO of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) from office, sacked him. The man charged with protecting the public purse, whose bank account held only about forty thousand Ghana Cedis at the time of his appointment, now had in excess of forty million Ghana Cedis, less than three years in office.

These accounts were frozen by the former Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu. But it appears they have not remained frozen all this while; that the system has remained dead-slow against him, and it is because our congested prisons where inmates feed on less than two cedis a day are homes for the poor who steal just a bunch of plantain to survive. People steal to deprive an entire community of healthcare and education and do not get pursued at all.

On October 4, 2019, the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) also filed a complaint about a more comprehensive probe. This time, the former PPA boss, the Board of Directors and two officers of his corrupt Talents Discovery Limited came under the floodlight. CHRAJ gave its decision on February 11, 2022, a few weeks after the High

Court presided over by Justice Elfreda Amy Dankyi dismissed A.B. Adjei’s certiorari application challenging the earlier decision claiming CHRAJ breached the rule of natural justice or fairness because he was not allowed to cross-examine some witnesses. He also claimed that there was no complainant when the complaint had, in fact, been filed by the President.

In its latest 162-page Report, A.B. Adjei was able to explain the source of only ¢86,000 of the more than GHC5.6m in his cedi account with the UMB Bank. So, bank officials found nothing suspicious and never asked any questions about the lodgments as they are required by law to report to the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC)? Well, CHRAJ has ordered him to refund the unexplained amount to the state within six months. He has been handed a 10-year ban from holding public office. He is already serving a five-year ban.

The Constitution and law command people to declare their assets before assuming public office. He and the chairman of the PPA Board, Prof. Douglas Boateng failed to do so. Like a number of public officers, Prof. Boateng claimed he was in the process of declaring his assets three years after taking the job. A.B. Adjei has been ordered to declare his assets within three months. On two occasions, he improperly altered the decision of the Board in favour of his rogue company TDL, and the Board was indicted for failing to insist on compliance with conflict of interest procedures and due process.

Dr Emmanuel Yaw Boakye, the General Secretary of MP Adwoa Sarfo father’s Kristo Asafo Church, was Technical Director at the Procurement Ministry. Adwoa Safo was the procurement minister at the time, and her Technical Director was on the PPA board.

Dr Boakye, who is involved in the Kristo Asafo Group of Companies, was caught in the corrupt act of conflict of interest in not recusing himself when the Board considered and approved a single source procurement of 160 Kantanka Pick-Up vehicles by the Education Ministry in 2019.

Do not be surprised by the revelation of this thieving conduct in this CHRAJ report because this is typically how corruption has been normalized in public office in Ghana. It is only in a sick country that people caught in such broad daylight graft and sleaze are allowed all the time to dissipate and conceal their stolen wealth.

Candidates raise at least $100m to campaign to be president and at least ¢400m to enter Parliament. Appointees, party executives, and people connected to power become filthy rich overnight.

Government contracts are handed to party people who in turn sell them to make at least 10% of the value. They take much of this money to the bank and no suspicion is raised. Let an ordinary citizen get a few dollars into their accounts and they are quickly flagged and frozen and the account holders are required to explain or forfeit the money.

We sure need a massive coupon corruption to stop this evil fleecing this country.

 

Source: Samson Lardy Anyenini 

Editor’s Note: Samson Lardy ANYENINI is a Ghanaian lawyer and journalist who works for Multimedia Ghana’s Joy Fm. He hosts Joynews and Joy FM’s weekend current affairs news analysis Newsfile programme. He won the category of Best Journalist for 2019 GIJ Annual Awards.