SFO workers dance 'kangaroo' -As Attorney-General inuagurates new Board
Gilbert Boyefio
20/09/2008
Workers of the Serious Fraud Office went into ecstasy and started performing the ‘kangaroo' dance - the catchy dance adopted by the Campaign team of the NPP - when the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Joe Ghartey, inaugurated a new Board of Directors and an Acting Executive Director for the organization.
The old Board was dissolved in May last year by the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice to pave way for the SFO to be restructured.
The new Board has Justice R T Aninakwa, a Supreme Court Judge, as its Chairman, and Agyemang Doudu, a Senior State Attorney, as the new Acting Executive Director. The members of the Board are William Kpobi, Senior State Attorney in-charge of Kumasi; Elizabeth Mills-Robertson, Deputy Inspector-General of Police; Alex Nii Kwetei Quaynor, a private legal practitioner and Ben Botwe, Executive Director of Narcotics Control Board.
The old Acting Executive Director, Theophilus Codjoe, who was conspicuously absent at the ceremony, has been seconded to the AttorneyGeneral’s office as policy advisor on serious and organized crime.
The SFO was set up to strengthen public accountability in the use and management of financial and economic resources. It does this through regular reliability checks of management practices applied by public institutions, and investigates offences involving serious financial or economic losses to the state, among others.
The SFO reports to the Attorney-General and, therefore, depends on him for directions. It can prosecute offences involving serious financial or economic loss to the state on the authority of the Attorney-General.
However, since its establishment by Act 466 in 1993, the SFO has not had any substantive Executive Director, and this situation had led to a lot of power struggles.
The delay in appointing a substantive boss for the SFO had been criticised as not being helpful to the government’s anti-corruption drive.
The power struggle at the SFO took a new turn when on October 9, 2006, Theophilus Codjoe was ordered by the old Board to desist from holding himself as the Acting Executive Director.
An attempt to restore sanity at the SFO fizzled out when Francis Nii Annan Sowah, who was appointed as the new SFO boss by the President in consultation with the Public Service Commission, could not be sworn into office.
The inauguration of the new Board has therefore been described by the workers as a welcome move.
20/09/2008
Workers of the Serious Fraud Office went into ecstasy and started performing the ‘kangaroo' dance - the catchy dance adopted by the Campaign team of the NPP - when the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Joe Ghartey, inaugurated a new Board of Directors and an Acting Executive Director for the organization.
The old Board was dissolved in May last year by the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice to pave way for the SFO to be restructured.
The new Board has Justice R T Aninakwa, a Supreme Court Judge, as its Chairman, and Agyemang Doudu, a Senior State Attorney, as the new Acting Executive Director. The members of the Board are William Kpobi, Senior State Attorney in-charge of Kumasi; Elizabeth Mills-Robertson, Deputy Inspector-General of Police; Alex Nii Kwetei Quaynor, a private legal practitioner and Ben Botwe, Executive Director of Narcotics Control Board.
The old Acting Executive Director, Theophilus Codjoe, who was conspicuously absent at the ceremony, has been seconded to the AttorneyGeneral’s office as policy advisor on serious and organized crime.
The SFO was set up to strengthen public accountability in the use and management of financial and economic resources. It does this through regular reliability checks of management practices applied by public institutions, and investigates offences involving serious financial or economic losses to the state, among others.
The SFO reports to the Attorney-General and, therefore, depends on him for directions. It can prosecute offences involving serious financial or economic loss to the state on the authority of the Attorney-General.
However, since its establishment by Act 466 in 1993, the SFO has not had any substantive Executive Director, and this situation had led to a lot of power struggles.
The delay in appointing a substantive boss for the SFO had been criticised as not being helpful to the government’s anti-corruption drive.
The power struggle at the SFO took a new turn when on October 9, 2006, Theophilus Codjoe was ordered by the old Board to desist from holding himself as the Acting Executive Director.
An attempt to restore sanity at the SFO fizzled out when Francis Nii Annan Sowah, who was appointed as the new SFO boss by the President in consultation with the Public Service Commission, could not be sworn into office.
The inauguration of the new Board has therefore been described by the workers as a welcome move.
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