Ghana Government Is A Cesspool Of Corruption …US State Department report

The U.S. Department of State has observed in its 2021 Annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices that there is widespread corruption within the Akufo-Addo government.

According to the report, corruption is rife in all the three branches of government, particularly the judiciary headed by Chief Justice Kwasi Anim-Yeboah.

“Officials frequently engaged in corrupt practices with impunity,” parts of the report said.

According to the report, even though there are laws against corruption, the government scarcely brings its officials to justice.

“Corruption was present in all branches of government, according to media and NGOs, including recruitment into the security services,” parts of the report read.

It made references to the Auditor General’s report to prove that graft is rife in the current government.

This has resulted in the loss of huge sums of public funds.

“The honorary consul general and the Ghanaian consulate in Washington D.C. could not account for visa fees totaling $355,000. The Free Senior High School Secretariat misspent more than $3.16 million,” read the report.

“A former Minister of Tourism retained three official vehicles for personal use after leaving office. The report concluded that corrupt practices resulted in $340 million of financial mismanagement, including misapplication and misappropriation of funds, theft, and procurement mismanagement.”

The report added that the Special Prosecutor’s office which the Akufo-Addo government set up to supposedly prosecute corruption has become a white elephant. “Since the first special prosecutor took office in 2018, no corruption case undertaken by that office resulted in a conviction.”

“When the new special prosecutor took office in August, his staff included one investigator and one prosecutor, both seconded from other offices.”

Meanwhile, the report also cited the assessment of election watchers who had controversially assessed the 2020 elections as transparent, free and fair. “Domestic and international observers assessed the December 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections to be transparent, inclusive, credible, and reflecting the will of the people.”