Former President John Dramani Mahama has stated that dealing with corruption is one of the most difficult tasks for Presidents.
This, he explained is due to the persons that are usually involved in the practice. Mr Mahama observed that in most instances, the people implicated in the corrupt act are closely related.
“The very important aspect of decision-making for Presidents is dealing with corruption. It is not as easy as you think it is, and sometimes the person who has been involved in corruption is somebody that you know very well and probably somebody who has been a member of your team, but unfortunately, has fallen by the wayside,” he said.
Speaking at a lecture at Academic City University College on Friday, Mr. Mahama said when this happens, as a President, you have to gather the courage to act. This, in his view, would serve as a deterrent to others.
The ex-President cited two instances he had to deal with during his tenure in which one of the culprits resigned and the other was imprisoned but pardoned by government on health grounds.
“There had been a procurement that had taken place and the minister had not gone through the procurement processes properly and as a result of that, there was an accusation that the cost of the procurement was far above what it should be and it created a major scandal for government. So I asked the Attorney- General and Chief of Staff at the time to investigate the allegations. They did and the report confirmed that the procurement process has not gone through properly …I called the minister involved …and she tendered her resignation,” he recounted.
He, however, stated that punishing persons involved in corrupt practices has not been the case with the current government.
“Unfortunately that is part of the problem we are facing today that the President cannot sack people who have been accused of corruption and so on and so forth,” Mr. Mahama asserted.
The Leadership Seminar Series by Academic City University College was designed as part of the University’s efforts to nurture the next generation of African leaders. It is aimed at ensuring that knowledge developed in the class is directly applied to address contemporary societal problems.
It is expected that the course will provide a platform for students to interact with renowned African leaders who have transcended from political, innovation, education, and industrial realms through sheer force of will and have impacted many lives.
Addressing students as the Keynote Speaker for the event, former President, John Dramani Mahama took the students through what leadership entails.
“Leadership is about responsibility first and decision making, you must accept responsibility for the position that you occupy and once you are the leader, people look up to you to take responsibility and based upon that responsibility, take decisive action. You cannot take proper decisions when you have not accepted responsibility for taking those decisions,” he explained.
