The lack of political will coupled with leadership poverty has been the main hurdle to the fight against corruption, Supreme Court Justice Yaw Apau has said.

Speaking at a Leadership Dialogue series organised by the Centre for Social Justice, Justice Appau said: “We have gone through numerous workshops and seminars on what public sector and political corruption is”. 

“Why are we not, therefore, addressing it, or why can’t we address it?” he asked. 

“The answer is simple; poverty of leadership and the lack of political will”, Justice Apau said.

A few days ago, however, President Nana Akufo-Addo said his government has achieved a lot in terms of fighting corruption.

In an interview with CNN on Monday, 3 May 2021, the President said he was content with the progress he has made so far since, in his view, Ghana’s anti-corruption ranking has “gone up several notches.”

“Am I satisfied that we’ve been effective? I will say yes”, the President answered a direct question.

“A lot has been done, and it is reflected in Ghana’s growing position and rankings of corruption in the world”, he noted.

“We’ve gone up several notches since I came into office because we are dealing with these matters at the basic level,” explained the President.

According to him, Ghana’s anti-corruption institutions “were very poorly resourced” prior to his assumption of office.

“We can talk all we like about corruption and make all the wonderful statements but if the instruments at your disposal for dealing with it are weak and blunt, you will get no result,” Mr Akufo-Addo noted.

Concerning the forcing out of Auditor-General Daniel Domelevo, the President said: “There’s a time for retiring which is prescribed by statute, not my making”.

“If you are 60 years old, you are no longer supposed to be able to work in the public service”, the public said, adding: “The Auditor-General, like me, should be some of the first to recognise the laws in our country”.