The President, Nana Akufo-Addo has mounted a vehement defence for his ministers in the face of allegations of corruption by the minority.
In his second state of the nation address, Thursday, the president said every citizen is affected by acts of corruption and entreated all Ghanaians to help in the fight of the national canker.
Describing the recent ¢5.4 billion disallowance by the Auditor General as “fictitious” and “alarming” the president said, that money which otherwise would have gone into private pockets, will rather be channeled into building the country’s poor road networks.
“There are reports of poor roads in our country. Think of what the difference of ¢5.4billion will do to the roads and classrooms in the country,” he said.
With a little over 12 months in office, the president’s appointees have not been spared the allegations of corruption, conflict of interest and extortion either.
The latest to be hit with the extortion allegation is the Trades Ministry which is battling to disentangle itself from the cash-for-seat scandal.
That scandal has led to a cold war in Parliament and turned Minority members into choir practitioners during the State of the Nation Address. They spared no effort at all in unsettling the president by singing repeatedly just a portion of the national anthem “and help us to resist oppressor’s rule.”
But the president appeared unfazed by the oppressor’s rule chants by the minority.
In providing a detailed state of the nation address, the president at every point in his address made glowing references to his ministers and the strides they are making in each sector towards the development of the country.
While still reposing confidence in his ministers, the president challenged all Ghanaians who have any evidence of corruption against any of them to be bold and step forward and back the allegation with evidence.
Until that evidence is brought, the president said his men and women are for now clean of corruption because every allegation made against any of them has been investigated with no proof of wrongdoing established.
He chronicled the bribery allegation against Boakye Agyarko, the 5millin fuel contamination saga, the extortion against the two Deputy Chiefs of Staff, and the recent cash for seat saga as testimonies of his government’s commitment to fighting corruption.
“Every single alleged act of corruption has been investigated by bodies and findings made public…” he said, adding, there have been two separate bipartisan investigations in Parliament even though the government has an overwhelming majority in Parliament.
This did not happen in our recent past, he said, referring indirectly to the previous government’s well-orchestrated blockade of two motions by the then NPP administration- the Fortiz and the Mahama ford saga.
He said despite the efforts his government is making to fight corruption “some are determined to stick to politically motivated allegations.”
He hoped the appointment of Martin Amidu as Special Prosecutor will further help in the fight against corruption.
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