President Akufo-Addo thinks the time has come for a review of the National Anti-Corruption Action Plan (NACAP).
He has charged all relevant institutions involved in the country’s fight against corruption to critically evaluate Ghana’s maiden NACAP, which has been in force for nearly a decade.
He has, therefore, asked them propose new anti-corruption measures that will constitute the basis for NACAP 2, which will span the period 2025 to 2034.
This was when he addressed stakeholders at the launch of the evaluation of National Anti-Corruption Action Plan (NACAP) at the presidency (Jubilee House) yesterday.
After almost 10 years of implementing NACAP, he said there is the need to understand how the action plan has contributed to reducing corruption in Ghana and to make necessary adjustments to policies and institutional arrangements based on the evaluation results.
“The evaluation is important to assess the contribution of NACAP to the fight against corruption in all spheres and to form the basis for developing our next NACAP, which is NACAP 2 (2025 to 2034),” he said.
Mindful of the enormity of the task in evaluating anti-corruption interventions, strategies, and action plans, an evaluation team of diverse expertise including those in political science, economics, communication, and gender has been constituted to evaluate the existing NACAP.
The evaluation comprises national evaluators led by the Ghana Statistical Service and shall be supported by international evaluators from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) to benchmark the evaluation exercise with international best practices and guarantee credibility.
Stakeholder Participation
Touching on how the evaluation will be carried out, President Akufo-Addo noted that “a high-quality evaluation of NACAP will be conducted utilising a wide range of information sources and several appropriate methods and tools.
He indicated that since the fight against corruption is a shared responsibility, all stakeholders must “see the evaluation of the maiden NACAP and the development of NACAP 2 as their collective responsibility and citizens and non-citizens alike must also see the exercise as their responsibility as well.”
He, therefore, urged stakeholders to give the exercise the priority it deserves, provide open and honest responses and inputs and offer their support and cooperation to ensure a successful evaluation, saying “let us embrace it as a beneficial learning tool rather than a threatening scrutiny.”
“I call on members of the Executive, Parliament, Judiciary, Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), Metropolitan, Municipal, District Assemblies (MMDAs), anti-corruption and law enforcement agencies, independent constitutional bodies, the media, political parties, civil society organisations (CSOs), businesses and private sector organisations, chiefs and traditional rulers, faith-based organisations, international partners and the general public to contribute to the success of this evaluation,” he added.
Through the leadership of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the high-level implementation committee, the evaluation results will guide the design and implementation of more credible and effective anti-corruption strategies, mechanisms, and tools in NACAP 2 and promote learning, accountability and integrity in Ghana.
For him, “NACAP is not merely a set of strategies and policies for us, it is a commitment to the future of our beloved Ghana, it is a pledge to the people of Ghana that collectively, we are building a country that can best represent their interests, provide them with hope ad protect them against any form of abuse of power.”
That is the pledge, he said “we must collectively give to the present and future generations, a pledge to which I am bound. Ghana must stand united against all forms of corruption.”
Timelines
As head of the leading evaluation agency, Government Statistician, Professor Samuel Kobina Annim (Ghana Statistical Service) said the Service is ready to lead a broad and participatory evaluation of Ghana’s maiden NACAP, mobilise resources and stimulate interest to develop NACAP 2.
“To help place the outcome of NACAP in context and ensure the creditability of the evaluation outcomes, the evaluation exercise aims to benchmark its processes and outcomes with international standards and practices,” he said.
The evaluation will span January 2024 to June 2024, even though some preliminary activities, such as inception meetings and reports have already been initiated to put the evaluation into a proper perspective.
The target of the evaluation team is to disseminate the evaluation results and outcomes six months before the 2024 national elections.
These timelines have been proposed within the scope of the evaluation exercise, with efforts to minimise potential risks as much as possible and with the support of all relevant stakeholders, implementing institutions and the citizenry.
