The fight against corruption and human right abuses will achieve optimum results if citizens raise alarm and actively report such incidents to the appropriate authorities for the necessary actions to be taken.
This is according to Linda Ofori-Kwafo, the Executive Director of anti-corruption CSO, Ghana Integrity Initiative.
According to her, there are many available channels through which complaints about corruption and abuse of human rights can be made and the perpetrators dealt with.
She said most anti-corruption institutions depend on the information from citizens to carry out their work and so volunteering such information will help the institutions protect the interest of citizens better.
Speaking on the sidelines of a joint iWatch Ghana, CHRAJ and Police collaborative training program for student journalists in Accra, she said;
“Citizens have the most important role to play in reporting human right abuse and corruption. The institutions mandated to investigate corruption and human right abuses depend on information to do their work. So if the citizens whose rights are abused and we cannot be witnesses and refuse to report these things, it is like we are not ready to contribute our quota to the fight against corruption.”
Linda Ofori-Kwafo further condemned the attempts of shielding abusers and corrupt persons sometimes by victims or their families.
She said such practice undermines the efforts of anti-corruption and human rights institutions to fight for in their interest.
While noting that such behaviours also affect the country’s development, Mrs. Ofori-Kwafo said citizens must appreciate their role in nation-building and actively take up the responsibility of exposing wrong.
“I want Ghanaians to be very much interested in the Ghana that we talk about. We have people who are so unconcerned and every day, blaming others. But citizens must contribute and that is what is important. I think everybody has a role to play on these two important issues of corruption and human rights abuses,” she noted.
She said institutions such as the GII operate an open-door policy and welcome citizen complaints and information about wrong doings in society and provide all relevant support and resources to pursue such matters even when they require taking the matter before the court of law.
