The Axe Must Fall Now!

Our Constitution upholds the principle of �freedom, justice, probity and accountability�, as well as �the principle that all powers of government spring from the sovereign will of the people�. Besides this preamble, Article 1 Clause 1 also says: �The sovereignty of Ghana resides in the people of Ghana, in whose name and for whose welfare the powers of government are to be exercised in the manner and within the limits laid down in this Constitution.� Some of the challenges of the country�s development process can be attributed to mismanagement and the inequitable distribution of the resources of the state. From the immediate post-independence era to date our people have had issues with the proper management of the country�s resources. It is, therefore, instructive that every change of government comes with reports of the misappropriation and mismanagement of the resources put at the disposal of government functionaries. It happened when the Kwame Nkrumah government was overthrown. The Busia administration was not spared, not to talk about all the military interregnums in the country�s history. Members of the Limann administration also suffered the smear of corruption, although none of his ministers went to jail. The Rawlings administration was not spared the mouthful sums of money that were said to have been misapplied by his men, while the same broom was used to sweep the men in the Kufuor administration. Although President Mills was not able to finish his tenure because of his demise, some functionaries in his government were called names for similar reasons. In all these instances, the institutions that played a major role in laying bare the facts were the Auditor-General�s Department, the police and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament. We have had cause to complain about the work of the PAC, especially when in most cases those who appeared before it and were indicted never got punished. Any time the PAC sat, the members looked at the records of the previous administration, making their work an exercise in futility. As a nation, we have not done much to account for the resources that are put at the disposal of our leaders who hold power in trust for the people. It is against this backdrop that we situate the directive from President John Mahama to the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice to set up a committee to start prosecuting people cited in the Auditor-General�s Report for misappropriating state funds. We have been here before, Mr President, when clear indications were given about zero tolerance for the misappropriation of state funds by public officials, but we did very little to recover those funds. The Daily Graphic hopes that the Attorney-General will fast-track the processes to recover all misappropriated funds to serve as a deterrent to others. We call on the government to crack the whip on those who have made it their objective to misapply state resources for personal gain. Our leaders are always junketing to Western capitals with bowls in hand seeking funds to balance our budget. That is why we should not allow anybody space to siphon state resources meant for the common good.