Cape Coast-Ghana, July 12, GNA – The Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC) has called on stakeholders to commit to transparency, accountability, and good governance for development.
Mrs Baaba B. Fleischer, the Focal Person, Local Accountability Network/Ghana noted that until all parties committed to the fight against corruption, efforts made would yield no results and the required impact.
Speaking at the Pentecost Church, Ghana to commemorate the African Union Day, she urged all especially the youth to be pay keen interest to issues ongoing in the country and fully participate to help aid development.
The Day is set aside by the Africa Union to remind Africans and African leaders of the urgent need to address the pervasive issue of corruption within the society.
On Friday July 11, 2003, member states of the African Union, in Maputo (Mozambique) adopted the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption (AUCPCC).
The celebration of GACC this year was focused on young people in their schools and places of worship in 31 districts in 14 regions across Ghana.
The GACC considered youth agency as a key but untapped element in fighting corruption, hence targeting them to achieve expected goal.
She said research had proven that the involvement of young people was crucial in advocating social change since they were among the most impacted and constituted a considerable proportion of the population.
Also, the youth, were more receptive to social and political transformations due to their involvement in various spheres of society.
She said corruption had been identified as a major root cause of poverty, deprivation, and underdevelopment and in Ghana, and had resulted in unemployment and under-employment, poor service delivery and lack of access to necessities of life, challenges mostly borne by young people.
While young people are armed with the information, they can spread the message to their parents and other community members and become sustainability channels to further impart the knowledge gained to generations of students.’
She advised citizens to be interested in how government spent public funds, demand accountability, and help protect the public purse.
Mrs Fleischer told them to be patriotic and report all corrupt officials to the appropriate authorities for the necessary actions to be taken against them.
“Let us create a Ghana and an Africa where resources are used for the benefit of all citizens. Together let us build corruption-free societies,” she added.
