We jail plantain, banana thieves but hail those who steal billions – Auditor-General laments

The Auditor-General Daniel Yaw Domelevo has chided Ghanaians for not prioritizing the prosecution of public officials who are found to have engaged in corrupt activities.

In an address at the 6th IICFIP Global Forensic Conference on the theme ‘Harnessing forensic investigation skills and tools for the effective fight against white collar crimes’, Yaw Domelevo indicated his discontentment with how authorities have schemed to make the law protective of public officials whose corrupt activities have left the nation in its current state.

He noted that the law is applied in full force when it comes to petty thieves but people with political connections always escape prosecution despite ‘stealing billions of money’.

Commending IICFIP for their role in the fight against corruption, the Auditor-General said that Africa’s failure to tackle corruption has made it a laughing stock to the West.

“I personally think there is a little bit of lack of prioritizing our efforts when it comes to addressing vices in our society. Whereas people steal fowl, chicken and they are thrown to jail and they have to serve their full sentence, people still billions of the people money and we hail them. Is that not Africa”.

“I would like to commend you for this great initiative because we owe it a duty to our continent and country to fight corruption and white collar crime. Because corruption, to the best of my knowledge has made Africa a laughing stock and we must do what we can to address it”, he said.

Revealing the reason behind the theme for sixth edition of the conference, the Global chairman of IICFIP, Dr Rama Subramaniam said that white collar crime has become an issue in Africa hence the decision.

“One of the best articulations we had was by the Auditor-General and I believe that he has impacted a lot of knowledge. Every year, we make the theme more relevant in the location of the conference. Today white collar crime is a very serious matter and conference focused on that”.

A senior organizer of IIFCIP, Bismark Abode Allegra appealed to African governments to equip forensic investigators with the tools needed to carry out their work efficiently.

“Forensic is becoming the norm of the day so there is the need to equip people who have that skll. When it comes to technology, its moving at a faster rate so each and every day you need to update and equip people that are in the field so that they can do a good job”

Source: www.ghanaweb.com