Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, has lamented the system which pardons corrupt politicians but sentences petty thieves to long jail terms.
He observed that people with political connections often escape prosecution when they are found to have engaged in corruption.
According to him, tougher punishments must be dished out to the corrupt political elite if corruption is to be checked.
Mr. Amidu was speaking as a guest on the online talk show ‘Time with David’.
He said the current system condemns plantain thieves to long jail terms while corrupt politicians are pardoned.
“It is the political elite who rule the nation, who lower the bar and make corruption a low-risk enterprise and the people can’t do anything about it. Some of them have to join because they must survive,” he said.
“In Africa, even when the elites are convicted for corruption they are pardoned in most times. You look at our constitutional history since 1993, almost all those who have been convicted and they are political elite have been pardoned in less than two years and yet when you steal plantain you get five years, 10 years and you serve all your term.”
The Special Prosecutor, however, expressed confidence that corruption can be stamped out from the country.
According to him, well-resourced institutions and the appointment of non-politically inclined public officers could go a long way to mitigate the canker.
“It can be fixed, it has been fixed elsewhere and there is no reason Ghana cannot fix it,” Mr. Amidu added.
pulse Ghana
