[ 2017-03-27 ]

Raymond Atuguba

I’m firmly against corruption - Raymond Atuguba
My attention has been drawn to a misleading video
clip of less than 2 minutes, taken out of a more
than 3-hour long discussion I participated in on
the role and functions of the Special Prosecutor.

For the avoidance of any doubt, I wish to re-state
my firm opposition to all forms of corruption,
fraud and unethical behaviour, especially by
holders of public office. During the three-hour
long debate organised by the
Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Foundation and the
Institute of Law and Public Affairs, and held at
the GIMPA Law School, I made this very clear.

In support of the successful prosecution of the
fight against corruption, I injected a
light-hearted but serious comment to stress the
need for a fight that is comprehensive enough to
guarantee success. I argued that to be fully
successful, it would be absolutely necessary to
consider the endemic nature of corruption, to the
extent where certain key sectors of the economy of
a country like Nigeria became heavily dependent on
corrupt money. I cited the sad example where in
Nigeria, some people, instead of supporting the
corruption fight, have been calling for corruption
to be brought back, for the simple reason that
their daily livelihoods – largely dependent on
corrupt money – have been drastically curtailed.
So I presented the proposal that the fertile
grounds that benefit from corruption must be
looked at to ensure that social intervention
programmes are available to cushion the unintended
harsh effects of the corruption fight on ordinary
citizens.

All this looks to me like déjà vu. In 2011, some
colleagues and I publicly discussed our research
findings on corruption in Ghana’s judiciary over
some four to five hours at a seminar organised by
the National Commission for Civil Education (NCCE)
as part of the National Constitution Week
Celebrations. Exactly as in this case, a small
excerpt of that programme was widely circulated by
Joy FM and other media. I was publicly and
continuously condemned by many members of the
Ghana Bar Association, and a section of the
public. The Association of Judges and Magistrates
formally wrote to the General Legal Council (GLC)
to take disciplinary action against me. The
Supreme Court refused to hear my cases then
pending before them, including very urgent
constitutional cases, until the outcome of the
investigation against me. When my lawyers
responded to the GLC, providing the details of
what I said, and the bases for what I said, they
backed down and things normalised. I must mention
that a great number of the public were supportive
of my stance during this period. It is always good
to make informed, nuanced, and balanced comments
and to act on complete information, when that
information is readily available.

I wish to stress again that the fight against
corruption is absolutely necessary. This fight is
necessary for us to build the Ghana we can be
proud of. This fight must succeed. And to succeed,
we need better strategies. During the over 3-hour
discussion, I proposed 4 strategies to aid in the
fight against corruption, let us focus our
energies and discussions on the substance of those
four proposals.

Source - classfmonline.com

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