The founding President of IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe has asked President Nana Akufo-Addo to intensify his fight against corruption by sanctioning his appointees tarnishing his image with alleged corrupt practices.
Mr. Cudjoe said although President Nana Addo has shown personal responsibility since assuming office as President of the Republic, some of his appointees seem emboldened, following government’s supposed shambolic handling of the Kelni GVG saga.
“I think the President should be cracking the whip a lot harder. He is very authoritative when he speaks, which is very good for him. No one has demonstrated personal responsibility when he speaks but the challenge is that there are appointees who now seem too emboldened because of the first reactions we gave to the concerns we raised [about Kelni GVG deal].
“I don’t want to go on and on about Kelni GVG because I feel a lot of water has passed under the bridge…Sanctioning is very important. I expected the President to have reshuffled his appointtees long time ago. I think the President should reign in his appointees because they are giving him a bad name,” he said on Citi FM/ TV‘s The Big Issue.
President Nana Akufo-Addo recently stated at the Ghana Bar Conference in Takoradi that it is not his duty to clear or convict officials accused of corruption.
The President said he had never independently declared any official innocent in instances where they were alleged to be involved in corrupt deals.
“It is not my job to clear or convict any person accused of wrongdoing or of engaging in acts of corruption. My job is to act on allegations of corruption by referring to the issue or issues to the proper investigative agencies for the relevant inquiry and necessary action. That is exactly what has been done since I assumed the mantle of leadership on 7th January, 2017,” the President had said.
His comment did not sit well with a former Director of the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), Vituz Azeem who indicated that the President’s role requires him to act on cases of corruption by taking the responsibility to clear or convict persons implicated in corruption scandals.
“It is his job [to clear or convict], he has referred the matters for investigations so he is expected to act on it. If he did not intend to act on them he should not have caused an investigation to take place. It is not just a matter of saying go and investigate.”