Anti-corruption campaigner, Edem Senanu, has rejected claims that the government’s anti-corruption drive amounts to political persecution or witch-hunting against former appointees of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Speaking on JoyNews’ The Pulse on Wednesday, December 31, Mr Senanu said scrutiny of former officials is a normal consequence of a change in government, especially where accountability mechanisms were weak during a previous administration.

“I think that we’ve got to accept that governments come and governments go, especially when, during the duration of a specific government, during a tenure, no substantive efforts are seen to be made to hold accountable officials of the same government,” he said.

He explained that once a new government takes office, it is expected to closely examine the activities of its predecessor and take follow-up actions where wrongdoing is suspected.

“You should expect that once a new government comes in, they will put a microscope on what activities have gone on, and there will be follow-up actions where persons who are seen to have robbed the public purse are held accountable,” Mr Senanu stated.

According to him, claims of witch-hunting cannot stand when matters are being handled through the judicial process.

“To the extent that all these cases will finally end up in the courts, and the courts will determine the culpability or otherwise of the individuals, I don’t see how anyone can claim witch-hunting or targeting,” he said.

Mr Senanu noted that the argument of persecution might only carry weight if cases were being tried in the media or judged by political actors rather than the courts.

“If these were cases where we are going to have a media trial or an open trial where citizens or political actors are drawing the conclusions, then perhaps there will be some merit in this whole argument that people are being targeted,” he said.

However, he stressed that the courts remain the appropriate forum to assess evidence and determine whether any laws have been breached.

“To the extent that the information is going to be put together and eventually end up in a court of competent jurisdiction for the courts to look at the issues raised, whether these are factual and whether the evidence leads to a breach of the law, I don’t see how anyone should be complaining about targeting,” he added.

In his view, public officials should expect post-tenure scrutiny as part of democratic governance.

“We should anticipate and embrace this, that each government that comes in is going to put a microscope on the activities of the previous one and fish out any actions that seem to have been done to the loss of the country,” Mr Senanu said.

“I don’t see any targeting. I don’t see any witch-hunting. I think even if those things come up, the courts of our country should be able to deal with it,” he concluded.