Mr. Albert Kan-Dapaah, a former Member of Parliament (MP)
and Minister of State under the erstwhile ex-President Kufuor’s government, has
said he can be comfortable with a thief as President of Ghana as long as the
system will not allow him to steal public funds.
“I can be comfortable with a thief who becomes the President
as long as when he becomes the President he finds that there is no way to
exercise his ability to steal”, he said.
According to him, Auditor General, Parliament of Ghana and
Judiciary being the institutions put in place to hold government accountable
have not been very effective and it is even worse to know that accountability
mechanisms put in place to check the financial management system also do not work.
Speaking at the second series of a symposium organized by
Forum for Media Accountability and Democratic Governance (FoMADeG) under the
theme; “Redefining Our ethos as a society”, Mr. Dapaah, indicated that in order
to be effective, the institutions need to be granted independence for them to
achieve a corruption free country.
“Today Donald Trump has been elected the President of USA,
whatever he does, he will not be accused of stealing public funds, not because
of his ethical values, or the American national values but is it because the
system in place will not allow him to steal”, he cited,adding that Abacha of Nigeria
who history has named as a
successful looter of public funds would not have had the chance to steal if he
was the President of America or United Kingdom.
The former MP who is the current Head of the University of
Professional Studies, Accra’s (UPSA) Public Accountability wondered how the
Auditor General who is supposed to audit government books and know whether
public monies were used in accordance with the financial laws can do his job
well when the President appoints, determines his monies to execute his job and
can dismiss him.
