A Research Analyst at the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Gilfred Asiamah, is calling for transparency and accountability in the Special Prosecutor’s investigation into the scandal concerning the will of deceased Forestry Commission boss, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie.

It was recently discovered that Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie who had died in 2020 had willed plots of land from the Achimota Forest Reserve and the Sakumono Ramsar site to family relatives leading to online protests from the general public.

Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express, Gilfred Asiamah said the investigations should lead to reforms and prosecutions even to strengthen the country’s legal framework on corruption and conflict of interest.

He said, “The principal thing is to get everything to be transparent. We need transparency, we need accountability. It may come up that nothing bad happened and that’s good, that is welcome. But we may also find out that people were culpable in this thing that happened, and if it happens so, then those people must be prosecuted if they’re alive.

“We need reforms around this issue, and especially in relation to asset declaration. We don’t know the full facts yet so we wait for the special prosecutor to do the investigations and come out clear with their findings.

“But if we find some lacunas in how we are implementing some of these reforms or some of these laws then definitely there must be a chance for us to go back to the drawing table and see how we can best implement these reforms to ensure that the law bites.”

“Already I think some of the frameworks for implementation are weak and so if they find anything it is better for us to go back and then reform the process and ensure that public officers who are entrusted with public resources are accountable for their actions and inactions,” he stressed.