Assin Central MP Kennedy Agyapong
• Kennedy Agyapong says President Akufo-Addo fight against corruption has been hampered by the judicial system
• He says there are lot of corruption cases at the courts
• He wants President Akufo-Addo to speak out on the slow-paced prosecution of corruption cases
Kennedy Agyapong, the Member of Parliament for Assin Central is worried about the pace of the fight against corruption under President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
Kennedy Agyapong in an interview with a US-based Ghanaian radio station said President Akufo-Addo has been ‘slow’ in dealing with corruption cases.
He added that the slow-paced anti-graft fight cannot be entirely blamed on the president but rather the judicial system.
The Assin Central MP said that the judicial system has become an impediment to President Akufo-Addo’s ability to effectively deal with corruption.
He disclosed that there are cases at various stages of hearing at the court but are being dragged by the process.
Kennedy Agyapong submitted that President Akufo-Addo is unable to speak up against it because he does not want to be accused of interfering in the works of another arm of government.
He however hopes President Akufo-Addo will pass a comment that seeks to charge the judiciary to expedite the hearing of corruption cases.
“He’s been very slow because the court system does not help him and he has not done anything about it. The way people expected him to fight corruption, the court system has frustrated him and he has done nothing about it so he has been very slow. It doesn’t mean he is not trying.
“There are several cases in court but the pace at which … Ghanaians don’t have patience… (they) don’t have patience for the system. The court process makes it difficult but if he speaks up against it, they’ll say he is influencing the judicial service, this and that. Because he is a lawyer, he’s abiding by the laws and rules of the country.
“So if I say he’s been slow, this is what I mean. I think if he made some comment on the judicial service to expedite case, they would have sat up and worked,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo is however likely not to agree with Kennedy Agyapong as he has in the past expressed satisfaction with the efforts by his government to fight corruption.
“Am I satisfied that we’ve been effective? I will say yes. A lot has been done, and it is reflected in Ghana’s growing position and rankings of corruption in the world. We’ve gone up several notches since I came into office because we are dealing with these matters at the basic level,” he said.