Corruption is currently high in Ghana - Prof. Adei

He said the corruption level in the country currently is very high due to the relaxed nature of authorities charged to check it.

Speaking at a national dialogue, dubbed the “Public Accountability: Abuse of Office”, organised by the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) on Tuesday, in Accra, Prof. Adei called for the empowerment of state authorities to question individuals about the sources of their wealth.

Prof. Adei said it was crucial for leaders to accept that they were partly to blame as far as matters of corruption were concerned.

He urged them to view their position as a position of service and not an avenue to loot and create wealth for themselves.

READ ALSO: Mahama was too corrupt - Prof. Adei

He also advised the leaders to avoid acts of cronyism and nepotism since it was another negative trait which was negatively affecting development.

According to the NDPC chairman, some people have taken advantage of this shortfall and have become rich overnight, without their sources of wealth known or interrogated.

In other developed countries, Prof. Adei said, such empowerment had served as an effective tool to ensure that people who held positions of trust did not abuse their office to embezzle funds for private gain.

The chairperson of the NCCE, who defined abuse of power as the misuse of public trust for private gain, said the fight against corruption had become a major priority of her commission particularly considering the negative implications it held in the country.

She expressed the concern that issues of corruption, particularly in areas such as cronyism, nepotism and abuse of power at workplaces, were increasingly becoming an accepted norm in the country.