A former Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Justice Francis Emile Short, has described the current spate of corruption in the country as “massive” and “systemic”.
“We are not making any progress in the fight against corruption,” he stated on TV3’s Hot Issues on Saturday, October 5, 2013.
He, however, noted that President John Dramani Mahama’s stance with regard to an action plan presented to him in 2011 is to blame. The “policy framework” he says was later forwarded to Parliament for approval by then Vice President Mahama but nothing has come out of that.
It is a very comprehensive document which has not received the attention of Parliament, he told host of Hot Issues Kwesi Pratt Jnr.
He explained that the document was developed by representatives of all anti-corruption stakeholders including development partners.
Justice Short noted that the document outlines a wide spectrum of programmes in fighting corruption.
He said issues such as ethics, conflict of interests, training for law enforcers, strengthening of anti-corruption agencies and training for investigative journalists have all been captured in the document.
The former Supreme Court justice said it is only in approving the document that much will be seen in the fight against corruption.
“If we did that we will be on the way to fighting corruption in a more robust way. It is the first step we have to take,” he stressed.
