Mary Addah, the Executive Director of the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), has raised concerns about the country’s approach to combating corruption.
According to her, the fight against corruption has been more rhetorical than action-oriented.
Ms Addah points out that institutions mandated to address this menace, often fall short by merely talking about it rather than taking decisive actions.
Despite widespread public awareness regarding corruption, she said there has been a lack of prosecutions and sanctions for wrongdoings or corrupt practices.
In her view, the gap between rhetoric and action contributes to the persistence of corruption in the country.
In an interview with Bernard Avle on Citi TV‘s Point of View, Ms Addah emphasised the urgency of moving beyond words and implementing effective measures.
She highlighted that a strong commitment to holding wrongdoers accountable is essential for curbing corruption and ensuring a more transparent and accountable society.
“We have seen the state of corruption being fueled by rhetoric rather than action and most of the public sector institutions, including the executive are seen to be talking about the issue more than action. We have seen that in most instances we do a lot of public awareness and yet it does not reflect in actual investigations, prosecutions and sanctioning of the corrupt.
“And this has been fueled also by the restrictive nature of our legislation, particularly when it comes to the definition of what exactly corruption is and so people get away with all sorts of wrongdoing,” she stated.