One of Ghana’s respected voices on anti-corruption, Daniel Batidam, is dead.
Mr Batidam served as a corruption advisor under the John Mahama administration.
The former Executive Director at the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) died on Wednesday, January 1, 2020, at Mampong in the Eastern Region.
Mr Batidam also served as representative for Ghana on the AU Advisory Board on Corruption, a positioned he resigned from subsequently, citing deep-seated corruption, lack of accountability among others at the secretariat at the AU Commission.
He resigned in June 2018.
The family of the late anti-corruption champion is expected to make a formal announcement soon.
In 2015, as President Mahama’s anti-corruption advisor, Mr Batidam was reported as saying the public must do more to put pressure on public institutions and not depend on the President to fight corruption.
“We have been depending too much on politicians and political leadership whereas, this is a demand and supply thing…..so if there is no demand for accountability…if demand is low we will continue to have corruption….you can put anybody at the presidency if there is no pressure on us, we will not be seen to fight corruption,” he was quoted as saying on Joy News.
Part of his resignation letter to the AU read:
“After witnessing several instances and degrees of bad governance, including the abuse of entrusted power (or corruption), lack of probity, accountability, transparency and integrity at the Secretariat of the AUABC and some Departments of the AU Commission itself for over three years now, while all efforts at seeking redress have yielded no result, I have decided on grounds of principle that enough is enough.”