WE NEED EVERYBODY TO SUPPORT THE ANTICORRUPTION FIGHT – GII 26th MARCH, 2025

The Ghana Integrity Initiative [GII] has in conjunction with the National Commission for Civic Education [NCCE], held an anticorruption community forum with members of the Paga-Nania and Bisao communities in the Kassena-Nankana West District of the Upper East Region. The forum was on the topic “Joining Efforts to Fight Corruption – The Role of The Citizen Under NACAP, The Role of the Advocacy and Legal Advice Centre [ALAC].

Joseph M. Azam, GII Zonal Focal Person


The Nania forum comes just a day after a similar engagement was held with the people of Doba in the neighbouring Kassena-Nankana Municipality and forms part of the GII’s Mobile ALAC clinics, targeted at bringing rights education to citizens particularly, women, girls and other groups to empower them to demand accountability from duty bearers.

Giving a brief on the GII and the purpose for the day’s engagement, the Northern Regional ALAC Officer and GII’s Zonal Focal Person, Mr. Joseph Makido Azam disclosed that the GII was established in 1999 and has been the Ghana Chapter of Transparency International; championing the fight against corruption in Ghana; in all its forms and shapes and across the sectors including health, education, agric, governance and more. He remarked however that, “we cannot do it alone, no single institution or individual, not even the Government can fight corruption all by itself and so, we need everybody to support”.

Mr. Azam disclosed that the main objectives of ALAC is to provide free, confidential and professional legal advice and assistance to victims and witnesses of corruption, to empower citizens and corporate bodies to make and pursue corruption related complaints and to undertake advocacy for broader structural and institutional reforms with the view of minimizing corruption in Ghana. Additionally, ALAC seeks to complement the anti-corruption work of public institutions including the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice [CHRAJ], Economic and Organised Crime [EOCO], Legal Aid Scheme and the Attorney General’s [AG’s] Department.

Cross Section of Participants
The Officer added that aside building synergies with civil society with similar objectives to broaden the frontiers of a just, fair and caring society in Ghana, ALAC also offers the following services free of charge to its complainants: Consultation with trained legal professionals, Case receipt and preparation, Referrals to Anti-Corruption Agencies for investigations and redress of corruption, Toll-free hotlines, Walk-ins, Email, WhatsApp and Postal complaint submission. According to Mr. Azam, ALAC is accessible to all persons in Ghana including corporate bodies however, priority is given to indigent or the poor and the vulnerable who may otherwise find it difficult to access justice.

Kassena-Nankana Municipal CHRAJ Director, Mr. Issahaku Abdul-Gafaru who also spoke on Anti-Corruption Laws in Ghana with focus on the Whistle Blower’s Act, charged members of the local communities to live up to their civic responsibilities and report acts of corruption to designated state institutions and other individuals prescribed under the Whistle Blowers Act 2006 [Act 720], assuring them that there are enough provisions under the Act to protect persons that file reports or volunteer vital intel on corruption. He however warned against persons that go about boasting that they had filed complaints or reports on corruption or other illegal happenings in society; stressing that such acts rather expose the whistleblower to danger and possible harm from the person(s) he/she blew the whistle on.

Mr. Gafaru [M] & Station Officer Dramani [R]  

Mr. Abdul-Gafaru educated the participants on how to detect corruption before as well as after it happens, where and whom to report it to and mentioned family head, community chief, assembly members, the district chief executive, the police and the attorney general among others. He said his office is also one of the legally mandated bodies to receive complaints from whistle blowers and that this is done, totally free of charge.

Meanwhile, Station Officer at the Paga Police Command, Mr. Dramani Mahamadu in responding to pepper traders and livestock dealers who alleged extortion by police officers on the Paga-Navrongo road; insisted the police have no business stopping and inspecting animals because “they are not veterinary officials’’. He readily gave his personal number out and also shared police emergency contacts [18555 & 191] urging people to call and lodge complains against any police officers who unjustly detain vehicles transporting perishable goods such as pepper explaining that, even if a vehicle had road worthy and other issues, the professional way to go is to take down the name of the rider/driver and the particulars of the vehicle whilst allowing them to go offload the goods first.

Officer Dramani also advised the public against paying any charges or fees for police services like the issuance of police medical forms and the bailing of suspects, stressing that these are free and that any officer found in such unlawful acts will be appropriately dealt with.

Aside the Paga-Nania and Bisao community members, some officials from the Kassena-Nankana West District Assembly, the Ghana Health Service and the Ghana Education Service, also participated in the forum, made presentations and took questions from the public.

 

 

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