The head of School of Performing Arts, University of Ghana, Professor Kofi Agyekum has stated that the slow pace of justice delivery in corruption-related cases is a major reason for which corruption still festers in the country.
He observed that citizens never get to know the end of many cases of corruption due to apathy on the part of parties involved in such cases, a situation he says emboldens the perpetrators of the crime to continue with same.
“I believe justice is too slow when people are found culpable in corruption cases. The parties adopt all forms of strategies and legal gymnastics including prosecutors absenting themselves from the courts amid various alibi and excuses and we often don’t get to the bottom of such issues.
“And what happens usually is that the people tend to blame the government of the day, particularly the president for not doing enough in the fight against corruption without recourse to happens within the legal chain,” he said on Peace FM’s morning show Kokroko earlier today.
Professor Agyekum’s remarks come on the back of President Akufo-Addo’s response to corruption allegations levelled against some of his appointees when he addressed the Ghana Bar Association Conference in Takoradi last Monday.
The President’s comments have since provoked mixed reactions from various members and entities of the public including political parties, pressure groups, Corporate Social Organisations and individuals.
In a careful manner to avoid a suggestion of persecution, Professor Agyekum appealed to judges in the country to consider finding means to ensure corruption cases that come before them are dealt with in a reasonably pacey manner to repose confidence in the public as well as deter potential offenders.
Prof. Agyekum also wants the President to, in a bid to dispel suggestions he may be shielding his employees, make public reports ‘clearing’ appointees accused of one ill or the other.
“When a report is completed, how long is it expected to stay at the presidency before it is made public? There are several reports which are yet to be made public and I do not understand why the government will sit on them when nothing stops them from publishing,” he said.
He stressed that for the interest of transparency and accountability, the government ought to publish such documents to reduce the level of corruption perception people have about it.
source; abcnews
