Supreme Court's ruling affects complaints of corruption -Ag Commission of CHRAJ
Gilbert Boyefio
12/12/2008
The Acting Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, Anna Bossman, has submitted that the Supreme Court judgment on December 21, 2007, on the mandate of the Commission in the case of The Republic versus CHRAJ: Exparte Dr Richard Anane, has affected the intake of complaints on conflict of interest and corruption.
The Supreme Court's judgment on the matter stated among other things that the Commission requires a complainant to investigate matters under Article 218(a) and (b) which touches on human rights, abuse of power and administrative injustice; the Commission can howeve, investigate matters under this article but it must be for the purposes of education only; the Commission can investigate media allegations of corruption and misappropriation of public monies by public officials under Article 218(e); CI 7 does not regulate 218(e) and therefore the Commission should make regulations pursuant to Article 230 regarding how it would investigate all instances of alleged or suspected corruption.
According to Ms Bossman, the Supreme Court"s decision, though did not bar the Commission from investigating allegations of corruption made in the media, was understood by the ordinary person to affect corruption cases and nonetheless, affected the intake of complaints on conflict of interest and on corruption.
Giving highlights of the 2008 report on the State of Human Rights in Ghana at this year’s celebration of International Human Rights Day under the theme, "Dignity and Justice for all of us”, Ms Bossman disclosed that the Commission received about 24 cases between January and November, including whistleblower disclosures.
She however, pointed out that the Commission could not investigate issues of conflict of interest raised in the media and other forums in view of the Supreme Court’s decision.
She indicated that the challenges of fighting corruption remained unaddressed in a significant measure.
These challenges she enumerated as the fusing of the position of the Attorney-General and public prosecutor in one person; the delay in the passage of the Freedom of Information Law to enable individuals, civil society organizations, and particularly, the media, to access information from public officials more easily; the frequent interference in the operations of the Serious Fraud Office and creating uncertainty and fear in the leadership of the organization; inadequate resource allocation to anticorruption agencies and frequent budget cuts to these organizations; and weak political will to fight corruption.
To the Acting Commissioner, more disturbing was the issue of judicial corruption. She said allegations of corruption and connivance in perverting the cause and ends of justice had been rife, and had generally tended to erode a measure of confidence in the judiciary.
Ms Bossman noted that this year, Ghana scored 3.9 on the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index and was ranked 67 of the 180 countries surveyed. She indicated that that score was what Ghana obtained in 2002.
"Though, a slight improvement over the other previous years, the score of 3.9 is far below the average clean score of 5.0; combined with the fact that Ghana has continuously scored between 3.3 and 3.9 since 1999, this year’s score should be a source of worry for Ghanaians requiring special attention than has been,” she pointed out.
Other areas touched on in the highlight of the 2008 report were civil and political rights, law and order, children’s rights, cruel and inhuman cultural practices, right to shelter, health and education, the state of detention facilities, and the protection of the rights of mining communities in Ghana.
12/12/2008
The Acting Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, Anna Bossman, has submitted that the Supreme Court judgment on December 21, 2007, on the mandate of the Commission in the case of The Republic versus CHRAJ: Exparte Dr Richard Anane, has affected the intake of complaints on conflict of interest and corruption.
The Supreme Court's judgment on the matter stated among other things that the Commission requires a complainant to investigate matters under Article 218(a) and (b) which touches on human rights, abuse of power and administrative injustice; the Commission can howeve, investigate matters under this article but it must be for the purposes of education only; the Commission can investigate media allegations of corruption and misappropriation of public monies by public officials under Article 218(e); CI 7 does not regulate 218(e) and therefore the Commission should make regulations pursuant to Article 230 regarding how it would investigate all instances of alleged or suspected corruption.
According to Ms Bossman, the Supreme Court"s decision, though did not bar the Commission from investigating allegations of corruption made in the media, was understood by the ordinary person to affect corruption cases and nonetheless, affected the intake of complaints on conflict of interest and on corruption.
Giving highlights of the 2008 report on the State of Human Rights in Ghana at this year’s celebration of International Human Rights Day under the theme, "Dignity and Justice for all of us”, Ms Bossman disclosed that the Commission received about 24 cases between January and November, including whistleblower disclosures.
She however, pointed out that the Commission could not investigate issues of conflict of interest raised in the media and other forums in view of the Supreme Court’s decision.
She indicated that the challenges of fighting corruption remained unaddressed in a significant measure.
These challenges she enumerated as the fusing of the position of the Attorney-General and public prosecutor in one person; the delay in the passage of the Freedom of Information Law to enable individuals, civil society organizations, and particularly, the media, to access information from public officials more easily; the frequent interference in the operations of the Serious Fraud Office and creating uncertainty and fear in the leadership of the organization; inadequate resource allocation to anticorruption agencies and frequent budget cuts to these organizations; and weak political will to fight corruption.
To the Acting Commissioner, more disturbing was the issue of judicial corruption. She said allegations of corruption and connivance in perverting the cause and ends of justice had been rife, and had generally tended to erode a measure of confidence in the judiciary.
Ms Bossman noted that this year, Ghana scored 3.9 on the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index and was ranked 67 of the 180 countries surveyed. She indicated that that score was what Ghana obtained in 2002.
"Though, a slight improvement over the other previous years, the score of 3.9 is far below the average clean score of 5.0; combined with the fact that Ghana has continuously scored between 3.3 and 3.9 since 1999, this year’s score should be a source of worry for Ghanaians requiring special attention than has been,” she pointed out.
Other areas touched on in the highlight of the 2008 report were civil and political rights, law and order, children’s rights, cruel and inhuman cultural practices, right to shelter, health and education, the state of detention facilities, and the protection of the rights of mining communities in Ghana.
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