Mr
Batidam, who is President John Mahama’s advisor on corruption and
governance says the proposal by president-elect Nana Akufo-Addo could
face implementation challenges and instead work against the fight
against corruption
“Before anybody thinks of creating another
office they must bear in mind that the Constitution has prescribed who
has the authority to do criminal prosecutions – and that is the
Attorney-General,” he said on current affairs programme, PM Express on
Wednesday.
The president-elect has as part of his incoming
government’s crusade against institutional corruption, he will establish
the independent prosecutor’s office to deal with the
problem in his administration.
problem in his administration.
Nana Akufo-Addo
explains the initiative is key to removing political influence in the
fight against the increasing cases of institutional corruption plagues
Ghana's public offices. He told the BBC the independent prosecutor would
be better placed to avoid politically-motivated criminal prosecution of
members of the previous governments.
However, Daniel Batidam thinks establishing the new office would prove an administrative superfluity.
“Article
88 is clear about the powers of the Attorney-General and I am not aware
of any other body or person that can exercise those powers without
touching the constitution,” he avers.
These powers, he
contends, includes initiating criminal prosecution against government
officials. He suggests that instead of expending his effort to set up
the new office, Nana Akufo-Addo should decouple the Attorney-General’s
office from Ministry of Justice. The Attorney-General can the be made
independent, because after all "independent is an English word," he
said.
The creation of a new office with a fancy name would not
guarantee that the fight against corruption would be successful, he
suggests.
He backs his point further with the success made by
citizen vigilante and former Attorney-General, Martin Amidu, in
single-handedly securing a Supreme Court verdict ordering businessman,
Alfred Woyome, to return to the state the GH¢51 million judgement debt
he unlawfully obtained.
Martin Amidu achieved
his feat without being in government, he said, buttressing his point
that existing institutions are enough to fight corruption.
“Is the vigilante an office? He is not an office. So I think that the institutions are there,” he stressed.
CHRAJ,
which is the key anti-corruption institution, can be empowered and
resourced to do its work, he told show host Nana Ansah Kwao IV.
“There
a lot of laws that have not yet been activated...If you take the
Constitutional Review Implementation Committee..it has made a lot of
provisions that relate to laws for fighting corruption, including asset
declaration regime to make it tighter,” he defends his position.
The existing law is a “mockery of an asset declaration law," he said.
Mr
Batidam also says the incoming administration should work towards
managing the expectation of some members of the New Patriotic Party
(NPP) and the public who believe persons involved in corruption scandals
in the outgoing administration would be jailed when Nana Akufo-Addo
takes the reins of government on January 7, 2016.
“Ghana is in a rule of law dispensation,” he said.
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