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| Dr. Eric Oduro Osae, Technical Advisor, MLGRD |
According to him, punishing the staff will serve as a deterring signal which will prevent people from doing it again. He said this last Wednesday April 4th during Joy FM's Super Morning anti -corruption show, Corruption Watch, hosted by Daniel Dadzie.
"This woman (EC staff) for instance, must be punished in the Kasoa district and people there should be satisfied that she has been punished".
"Once this is done, it sends a deterring signal to people and they will end up not doing it again", Dr. Oduro Osae said.
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| Dr. Osae (left), Mrs. Addah (middle) & Dundas Whigham |
Among the panel on the show were Mrs. Mary A. Addah, Programmes Manager, Ghana Integrity Initiative and Dundas Whigham, an investigative journalist who twice within a week captured the EC staff collecting bribe before replacing lost Voter Identity (ID) card.
Dr. Oduro Osae touched on the culture and habit of Ghanaians which is impeding the fight against corruption. He noted that we have not cultivated the habit of encouraging people to report without fear.
This, the technical advisor added that is largely due to mistrust in some state institutions. "People know when they report, their confidentiality or identity cannot be hidden", he stressed.
He further touched on the security of the journalist who exposed this canker. "This gentleman (Dundas Whigham) has exposed one corrupt act. What is the benefit? Who is supporting him by way of finances and protection? He will have to manage it himself", Dr. Oduro Osae lamented.
In the wake of frustrations poured out by the journalist during the show, owing to the fact that the EC has not taken any action, after six months since the commission's attention was drawn to it, Mrs. Mary Addah had some unique suggestions.
She stated that dealing with some state institutions, especially the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) usually takes time due to some challenges, particularly with staffing.
However, she added that GII and CHRAJ have been working fruitfully for quite a long time and have received positive responses from the latter.
"I appreciate his frustrations, but then we have been doing this for long and we have achieved some results. We do not necessarily seek to justify some of the lapses in the public sector, but they have actual challenges with staffing and so sometimes it takes longer than you would expect to have results", Mrs Addah noted.
She added that it is important to continue pushing to ensure that this issue is not forgotten. "Investigations must be accompanied with enforcement", she stressed.
Story Background
On June 2017, an EC staff at the Kasoa office, in the Awutu Senya East Constituency of the Central Region Madam Harriet Djanie was caught twice on tape within a week collecting Ghc30 and Ghc40 respectively before replacing a voter ID.
According to the EC, when persons lose their voter ID card, such persons must pay Ghc5 at the Ghana Commercial Bank, then send the receipt to the district where the previous registration took place for a new voter ID to be issued.
However, some staff at the Kasoa office and Ridge Head Office have been charging unofficial amount ranging from Ghc30 to Ghc50 aside the official amount before replacing lost voter IDs.
Since the EC's attention was drawn to it on October, 2017, the commission has failed to take any action.
Over 500 people have signed an online petition, orchestrated by Klarity to press the EC take action and this will soon be delivered to the EC.
According to the programmes manager of GII, CHRAJ is still investigating the issue and will soon come out with their findings.
Users should log onto Klarity.org (anti -corruption platform where people can upload videos that are corrupt in nature) to watch the videos on petty corruption at the Electoral Commission.
https://www.modernghana.com/news/846003/punish-ec-staff-caught-collecting-bribedr-oduro-osae-fumes.html
https://www.modernghana.com/news/846003/punish-ec-staff-caught-collecting-bribedr-oduro-osae-fumes.html
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