[ 2017-10-06 ]

Funding special prosecutor with donations disastrous – IMANI
Vice President of IMANI Africa, Kofi Bentil, has
questioned the proposed source of funding for the
yet-to-be established Office of Special
Prosecutor.


He argues that, the proposal, which includes
donations from external bodies, is a
potential ground for corruption, which the office
seeks to fight.

The Bill to establish the office, which is
currently in Parliament for consideration, lists
donations and grants as sources of funding.

Kofi Bentil, who was speaking at a media training
dialogue on the Bill under the auspices of the
Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition in Accra on
Friday, suggested that the Consolidated Funds
could be used to fund the Office.

“Take out donations and grants. It is a window
for corruption. Why can we not fund this office
with the Consolidated Fund? Leave no room for
anyone to make a donation….

Some of these drug dealers plan 10 years ahead.
They will start taking care of you, building
houses for you, buying you cars, giving you
foreign trips, paying your kids’ school fees 10
years ahead before they get into trouble.

And when they get into trouble and you see that
it is him who has been giving you these things for
the past 10 years, you would not be able to take
action against him,” he said.

Kofi Bentil added that, the Office of the Special
Prosecutor cannot be truly functional without some
constitutional amendments.

Meanwhile, the report of Parliament’s
Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs
Committee, on the Office of the Special Prosecutor
Bill, which was expected to be laid in parliament
today [Friday], has been postponed to Tuesday.

This follows the Committee’s conclusion of
consultations with various stakeholders concerned
with the Bill.

The objective of the Bill is to establish a
specialized agency to investigate specific cases
of corruption involving public officers, as well
as individuals in the private sector implicated in
corrupt acts.

Source - citifmonline.com

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