CHRAJ TO PROBE CORRUPTION AT EC

Mr. Joseph Wittal, CHRAJ Boss 

A three member panel of the Anti-Corruption unit under the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), is to investigate acts of bribery allegation at the Electoral Commission (EC) where voters who have misplaced  their voter Identity (ID) cards and wish to replace them are made to pay unofficial amount of money. 

The panel met with the private investigative journalist – Dundas Whigham, who went undercover to expose corruption at the EC. Evidences have since been submitted to the commission, but they have failed to act on the matter. 

Evidences of the investigative work were aired and discussed on Joy FM Super Morning Show Programme, Corruption Watch on January 10^th, 2018. 

Meeting With CHRAJ

The meeting follows a complaint the investigator made to the Tiger Eye Foundation and Klarity (both anti-corruption organisations) alleging extorting of unofficial amount of money by some EC staff before replacing lost Voter ID cards to prospective voters.

The two anti-corruption organisations forwarded the complaint to one of their partners in the fight against corruption - the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), where it was subsequently forwarded to CHRAJ on the 8^th December, 2017.

The three member panel headed by Madam Adeline Woananu, a senior investigator said they have received a letter from the GII and wanted to probe further on the said corruption case.

“We have received a complaint from the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) alleging corruption at the Electoral Commission. GII stated in the letter to contact you (investigator) for further clarification and evidence on the matter”, she said.

After being showed the evidences involved in the corruption case, the panel stated their willingness to probe further by inviting all parties involved and publish their report shortly.

Facts of the Case

On January 10^th, 2018, Joy FM Super Morning Show programme – Corruption Watch, aired and discussed a clear example of extortion where prospective voters who have misplaced their voter ID Cards must go through should they wish to have them replaced. 

The video evidences were since uploaded on Klarity.org – an anti-corruption platform where users can share acts of corruption by providing reliable facts for actions to be taken.

Officially, prospective voters who have misplaced their Voter ID must pay an amount of Ghc5 at the Ghana Commercial Bank and take the bank receipt to the EC district office where the previous registration took place to have it replaced, an official statement by the EC says.

However, some EC staff, including those at the EC head office in Accra and Kasoa are manipulating the system by charging unofficial amount of money ranging from Ghc30 to Ghc50 per person before replacing them.

The investigator posed as someone who has misplaced his voter ID and went to the Kasoa EC office, in the Awutu Senya East District of the Central Region where the staff Madam Harriet Djanie was caught on tape, twice collecting Ghc30 and Ghc40 before replacing lost voter ID. 

The reason was that they have run out of laminate and that one of their staff must be sent to another EC office to get some of the laminate. Thus, the investigator must take care of the person’s transportation (TNT). 

However, checks from the EC then, revealed that there were no shortage of laminates.

This occurred on the 8^th June, 2017. However, the investigator's camera failed to get a good content to back his claim during the time money (Ghc30) was being exchanged from one hand to the other.

In order to prove that corruption had taken place and the quest to gather enough evidences, the investigator went there again on 16^th June, 2017, but this time through a colleague with the assistance of a good recording gadget. 

Again, the EC staff demanded Ghc40 (an increase of Ghc10 in less than a week); and the same reason –“we have run out of laminate”.  

The unofficial amount may seem too small, but bigger corruption in nature. In one of the videos, the staff showed a list of “over 500” people who were yet to come for their cards but “there is no laminate”. Should Ghc40 be multiplied by 500, the result will be Ghc20,000; just at one EC office.

In one of the videos, a security officer at the EC’s Head office confirmed this same practice of extortion by some of their members.        

PETTY, BIGGER CORRUPTION: EC Officer Caught Collecting Bribe Using “TNT” in Disguise

 Mr. Kofi Dzakpasu,Head of Communications Public Relations of the EC

An Electoral Commission (EC) officer at the Kasoa office in the Awutu Senya East constituency of the Central Region has been caught on camera collecting bribe before replacing lost Voter Identity (ID) card.

Madam Harriet Djanie usually uses “transport" (TNT) fare ranging from Ghc30 to Gh50 per person as a way of getting people to become victims to her disguised tactics.

Twice she was caught on camera collecting bribe before replacing lost voter ID card; a private investigations supported by Tiger Eye Foundation and Klarity (both anti-corruption organizations) has revealed.

This corrupt activity perpetrated by some EC staff is nothing new to the officers at its Head office in Accra.

Officially, “persons requesting for replacement of lost voter Identification (ID) cards are to pay five Ghana cedis into the Electoral Commission’s bank account”.

This directive was issued by the EC’s Sunyani Municipal Officer, Mr. Yaw Opoku (Source: Ghana news Agency, April 30th, 2016) 

He further added that persons must present a copy of the deposit slip to the Commission’s District Office for registration and issuance of a new voter ID card. This directive is clearly being abused, not only at the Kasoa EC office, but also at its head office at Ridge, Accra.

EC Response

When contacted with an evidence on whether the EC has now tasked its staff to charge transport fares in addition to the official fee of Ghc5 before replacing lost voter ID, the Head of Communications, Public Relations of the EC Mr. Kofi Dzakpasu stated that “may be I am having some challenges getting your videos but it is all that I got. And it doesn’t tell me much about what you are alluding to and alleging".

"All the same we are going to study it and revert. I am very eager and anxious to get to the bottom and unravel this thing so if there are some more videos that I have not gotten please forward them to me”, Mr. Dzakpasu noted. 

When new evidence was sent to him via WhatsApp, he reacted with the surprise emoji and added “Huh”?

“I have submitted to the Commission. The Commission will study it. Those involved will be invited for their side of the story and an investigation must be made. This is a serious allegation and as such we need to follow due process and those involved have the right to be heard”, he stated.

At Kasoa Office 

   

According to Madam Djanie, her outfit has ran out of laminates and that she has to send a colleague to a different EC office by providing the transport fare to facilitate the movement of her colleague to bring some of the laminates to her office.

However, checks at the EC head office then revealed that there were no shortage of laminates.

The amount - Ghc30 and Ghc40 per person may not be any big money in the eyes of many Ghanaians, however, in another video, she was captured pulling a tall list of over 500 people who were yet to come for their Voter ID cards because there were no laminates.

This makes the practice not petty alone, but bigger corruption in nature. Should Ghc40 be multiplied with 500, you are getting Ghc20,000. Checks from some regions have revealed similar practice by some EC staff. 

At Accra EC Head Office, Ridge 

In one of the videos shot at the EC head office in Accra, a staff said “people have started reporting us because some of the staff inside there charge money before replacing lost voter ID cards”

This staff became suspicious of our presence there and directed us to go to where we registered. This is how come the Kasoa EC officer was caught.

Sequence of Events 

On our first day of visit, Madam Harriet Djanie noted that her office has ran out of laminate. She agreed to help. 

“Because we are not into any exercise, any agenda, they (EC) are just feeling reluctant. Since last year September “y’a reporte aa y’abre” (we are tired of reporting) [shortage of laminates]. 

She added "we said they should even announce “se” (that) they’ve put hold on it so that people wouldn’t even come to the office and disturb us. That one too they (EC) are refusing to do it. So I don’t know"(thinking of how to help).

"If am able to get some of the laminate for you, you know our laminate is not also sold on the market. If am able to get some for you, you just drop your number. If I manage to get some for you, I will give you a call. Ok."

"But the problem will be that if they will have to send someone to bring it, then you will have to pay the person’s transportation for the person”, she narrated. 

     

Contact numbers were exchanged and true to her words, she called just the next day. It was on Friday afternoon and we agreed that because it was late, we should schedule it for Monday. “So you drop the transportation for the person. Its Ghc30”, Madam Djanie noted. 

   
On Monday when the money was being handed to her, the camera failed to capture the hand receiving the money, but captured the moment she put the money in her drawer.

The Second Coming 

To prove with empirical evidence that indeed corruption took place, my team went back again, but this time through a different colleague who also posed as someone who has misplaced the voter ID card and wanted one immediately.

Same procedures were followed by going to the Ghana Commercial Bank to pay Ghc5. This time, the EC staff demanded for Ghc40 for transport fare. The money was paid directly to her and was caught on camera. 

To view all the videos, readers are advised to visit Klarity.org (Petty Corruption at the Electoral Commission). Checks from Klarity note that a complaint has been forwarded to the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) and they are yet to respond.

Zimbabwe Opposition MP Fires In-coming President Mnangagwa, Urges him to be fair

Emmerson Mnangagwa, Will Be Sworn In Soon

Zimbabwe’s in-coming president Emmerson Mnangagwa Wednesday evening addressed the country’s teeming crowd who were thrown into a state of ecstasy and frenzy following the resignation of long term serving leader Robert Mugabe

In a televised speech, Mr. Mnangagwa clearly stated his intent to govern well in order to turn the dwindled economic fortunes of the country around. Mr. Mnangagwa revealed that he was poisoned and airlifted to South Africa where he received treatment and he is now doing well.

However, even before Mr. Mnangagwa takes charge as the next president, an opposition Member of Parliament (MP) Paddington Japa Japa is already firing warning shots, cautioning him that they will “take him on” if he acts in an unbiased manner.  

“We supported Mnangagwa to top on Mugabe through its demonstrations and we expect that Mnangagwa has to play the game fairly. If he is not going to play the game fairly, we will take him on also. We are sick and tired of ZANU-PF”, the opposition MP said.

Nicknamed the crocodile, the vice president was sacked early this month for being “disloyal” to his “master”.  He fled to neighbouring South Africa and is expected to be sworn as president soon. Mr. Mnangagwa was seen as the next person to succeed President Robert Mugabe. But following his sacking, speculations further increased pointing that Mr. Mugabe’s wife, Grace Mugabe might succeed him. Openly, she was heard saying “mark my words, his [Mugabe] words will be final.

Early this week, the ruling party ZANU-PF passed a resolution to sack Mr. Mugabe as the leader of the party together with Grace Mugabe and went ahead to reinstate Mr. Mnangagwa as the party’s new leader. 

Zimbabwe was thrown into a state of ecstasy amid wild jubilation Tuesday after the Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda read the resignation letter of veteran serving president Robert Mugabe after both houses gathered to initiate his impeachment processes. Mr. Mugabe stated in the letter that he was resigning in order to have a smooth transfer of political power. 

When Mr. Mugabe took power in 1980 ending whites supremacy, expectations from natives were high.  Whiles the whites did not seem to be happy about Mugabe’s take over, native indigenes were optimistic about better prospects for Zimbabwe “We need good houses to sleep in, better paying jobs so we can take care of our wives and children”. Mnangagwa now faces a difficult time to turn the dwindled economic fortunes of the country around, create jobs and establish a better working relationships with the West.

http://awakeafrica.com/zimbabwe-opposition-mp-fires-coming-president-mnangagwa-urges-fair/ 

      

Special Prosecutor Bill, a Narrow Conception – Justice Emile Short

Justice Francis Emile Short

Former Supreme Court judge Justice Emile Short has stated that the Special Prosecutor Bill is a narrow conception of fighting fight corruption at both public and private sector.

Parliament last Tuesday passed the Special Prosecutor Bill into law amidst several controversy and opposition by the minority. 

Chief among them was the clause which gives the Special Prosecutor immunity from prosecution. The Minority in Parliament were unhappy about this clause stating that it will violate the constitution.    

This, Justice Emile Short stated that it is reactive in nature as it fails to deal with the fundamentals of fighting against corruption.

“The present government campaigned on the platform of fighting corruption and has centred its strategy on the establishment of Special Prosecutor. It might help but I think it is a narrow conception. [This is] because the fight against corruption involves so many components". 

“When you talk about prosecuting people who are implicated in corruption, you are dealing with addressing the problem after it has happened".

"But there are so many people who are engaging in corruption but they are not caught. And so you need to look at the opportunities, loopholes that facilitate corruption and pluck all of them so that corruption does not occur”, Justice Short noted.

Thoughts on state institutions mandated to fight corruption

Justice Emile short who was one time the Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) added that state institutions mandated with the power and authority to fight corruption with or without a complaint are ineffective with their constitutional mandate.

"I don’t think CHRAJ is what it used to be when it was established”, he said.

This, he said is due to past occurrences notably the “impeachment of the last commissioner” which “dented” the image of the commission. Justice Emile Short added that CHRAJ has the power and mandate to investigate corruption even without a complaint - media allegations for example; it hardly does that presently.

The former Supreme Court Judge added that CHRAJ has not demonstrated effectiveness in carrying out that aspect of its mandate which is investigating not only complaints, but allegations of corruption. 

“The institution at the moment is weak. There has been a lot of brain drain, lots of people have left for greener pastures. The institution is not functioning the way it ought to”, he stated.   

EOCO

With regards to the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), Justice Emile Short stated that it was better EOCO becomes independent in order to fight against corruption more effective. 

“We hear about the cases it [EOCO] is doing but we rarely don’t know how it functions. It may be doing very well in the background, we don’t get to know very much about the outcome of a lot of the investigations it carries out and it’s still under the authority of the Attorney General. 

I have always suggested that it should be an independent institution” he said.

He commended the media for being on top of the issues such as ensuring a free and fair elections and the important role it has played after elections by making sure that results are announced to the general public as quickly as possible. 

However, the former Judge   urged the media to focus lots more on issues in educating the general public on issues of corruption.

“I don’t think the media has done enough to educate the public on the national anti-corruption plan and what it takes to really wage a successful war against corruption". 

"I think there has been too much emphasis on political issues and I think I would like to see the media devoting more attention to other non-political issues like corruption and women and gender issues”, he said.

He narrated that these institutions established to fight against corruption are not working effectively because they are not well resourced in terms of human capacity and financial resource and that these are the problems facing the fight against corruption.

Credit: TV3

The Wrong Political Seed We Have Sowed

The Kind of Seed We Sow, Grow to "Attack" Us

After 55 years of political independence, our politicians today are still basing their campaign messages on the provision of basic social amenities such as building of hospitals, construction of roads, eliminating schools under trees, provision of good potable water and a few to the masses just to get the enormous support of the electorates when voting days are drawing nigh which enables them to achieve power through the ballot box to effect social change.

 
When will the basic needs of the masses be fulfilled by our politicians when the electorates give them the mandate to rule so that we start counting ourselves as one of the developed countries? It has been everyday norm by our politicians who say we have everything, namely gold, timber, diamond, manganese and oil; yet we are still being counted as part of the developing world.  What could have accounted for this?

 
Some of our politicians lack insight with respect to implementation of certain policies that will help effect social change. Some are afraid to effect the implementation of certain policies with the view that if they do so, they fear being voted out by the masses come any election day. A leader is someone who plans ahead of time, able to take risk regardless of the conditions attached and also do things right but not doing the right things at the wrong time.

 
In the view of ensuring an effective social change lies in the hands of the electorates who determine who should take charge of the administration of the country. These days, electorates do not vote on issues and policies structured by a political candidate, but vote on personality profile taking into account the personal looks, where he was born, the family he hails from, his religion, the school he attended and even the tribe he belongs to.

 
Therefore, regardless of how good a candidate's policies maybe, to be able to get the nod to handle the country's administration, he must belong to either party A or B. Aside this, he should forget becoming a leader.

 
This trend of voting, most especially, for our fledging democracy is very dangerous and this practice has accounted for our setbacks as political parties have used the mandate being given to them by the electorates to furnish themselves and families alone and have forgotten the development of the country upon which their campaign messages were based on while channeling least of the country's revenues and resources to the developmental process.

 
Not until our politicians gain enough insight, they will still base their campaign messages on the aforementioned basic social amenities and our society will be at a disadvantage. Not only politicians must be responsible for our setbacks in the developmental process, but some of the masses have also played their part regarding this problem. Some people are hoodwinked to some selfish politicians who lure the electorates vote for some politicians and canvass support for them. Thus, they are afraid to expose them (politicians) when their actions pose a threat to the society.

Most at times, we claim human institutions are made up of errors and therefore we are bound to see certain mistakes because we are working with humans. Until this societal adage is nipped in the bud, our society will always be at a loss. Last month, an Italian court in a verdict that sent shock waves through the scientific community convicted seven prominent Italian earthquake experts including a former government official of manslaughter in a six year jail term for failing to adequately warn the public about a fatal 6.3 magnitude earthquake that struck in the central Italian city of L'Aquila in 2009 which killed more than 300 people. This is unusual knowing that earthquake, just like any natural accident can never be predicted, yet these experts have been imprisoned.

 
Even people have been jailed due to a natural cause, how much more the things we are responsible for? We all the time shift the negative outcome in the process of our work to being it a human institution and therefore mistakes are bound to occur, and until we change our style towards every aspects of human endeavors, the society will always be at a loss.

 
It is time we ensure people who make unpardonable mistakes to the detriment of the society are severely dealt with to serve as a deterrent for others. But what do we see these days? We have several corrupt officials not only in government; that whenever they indulge themselves in corrupt practices, they resign the next day and no actions are taken against them and that is why a former Italian prime minister and president of football giants AC Milan Silvio Berlusconi was sentenced to a year in prison for tax fraud regardless of his position. This is how far development has gone.

 
Even though we need a God fearing and an incorruptible person to transform our nation, this person must ensure that the people he works with should do same. The leader must be able to take firm decisions and ensure that policies which will affect social change are implemented but not policies which seek to enrich the pockets of himself and his colleagues.

 
We always wonder why the advance countries are always moving on in terms of development and invention of new technologies, but here in Africa developments are stagnant and even that, there is no culture of maintenance of the already existing developmental projects.

 
The answers are not farfetched. They are focused, less corrupt, they have vision, they put their society's needs first and they do not say 'we are putting measures in place' nor 'everything is in the pipeline' but say we have done it already' or 'tomorrow it will be done'. Members of parliament in the developed world do not fancy fleet of cars, but what do we see here? We have failed to put down an effective working system to ensure the benefit of all the masses. If one does not belong to a particular group, he does not enjoy the benefits that are coming.

 
All these have accounted for our setbacks in the developmental process, and not only in the country alone, but the continent in general. A renowned Ghanaian investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas and his fellow investigative journalists, Sorious Samura from Sierra-Leone in a documentary for Al jazeera English, 'Africa Investigates' uncovered the truth behind illegal timber business in the country and discovered that the office of the vice president of Sierra-Leone was used to perpetrate such corruptive acts by paying money to enable the logs be shipped to China which were in popular demand.

 
We appear to have sowed the wrong political seed which has accounted for our setbacks and it is of these corruptible practices and unacceptable behavior by our own people that is why our politicians are still basing their campaign messages on the provision of basic social amenities long after independence. I will be very surprise come 2032 if our politicians base their messages on the aforementioned social amenities. The electorates should consider the type of candidate they vote for when election time comes.

First published in the Chronicle Newspaper on 8th November, 2012

https://www.modernghana.com/news/428676/the-wrong-political-seed-we-have-sowed.html 

 

First Lady Mrs. Akufo-Addo to Visit China

First Lady Mrs. Rebecca Akufo-Addo

The First Lady H. E. Mrs. Rebecca Akufo-Addo will pay an eight day official visit to the People’s Republic of China from Monday 20^th to 29^th November, 2017, a statement from her office signed by the Press Aid Richard Darko has said.

Among her entourage will be the Minister of State in charge of Tertiary Education, Prof. Kojo Yankah, Dr. Stella Ennim, Director of Crop Research Institute (CSI) and a representative from the Finance Ministry, Millicent Degraft –Johnson.

The visit of the First Lady is aimed at strengthening cooperation and deepening economic ties between the two countries.  This follows the trip of Vice President H.E. Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia to China in June and the reciprocal visit of Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce Mr. Qian Keming to Ghana in September.  

“During the visit, the First Lady will support the President of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) to open the first Ghana trade and investment office in Qingdao, China. In addition, the delegation will travel to Hunan where they will meet provincial officers and visit the laboratory of “the father of rice”, Mr. Yuan Long Pin, investor of the hybrid rice variety to discuss how China could assist Ghana to improve its yield in her rice production”, the statement noted.

Another key area of Mrs. Akufo-Addo’s visit to China is to spearhead a major commitment of the government’s political agenda which is One District One Factory policy initiative. “The First Lady will then proceed to Shenzhen in the Guangdong Province to meet the official of China National Building Materials (CNBM) who are working with Ghana on her One District One Factory initiative”, the statement added.  

Mrs. Akufo-Addo will also make a stopover at the Chinese autonomous region of Hong Kong to meet the region’s Financial and Investment community. She is expected to be home just after leaving Hong Kong. 

http://awakeafrica.com/topics/sports/