Audio By Carbonatix
The Member of Parliament for Bimbilla says President John Mills and the head of the Customs Exercise and Preventive Service (CEPS) must equally be held liable for the stinking bribery and corruption uncovered at the Tema Harbour.
Dominic Nitiwul noted the angry outburst by the President when he paid a visit to the Harbour on Friday only exposed the president as sleeping on the job even when reports of corruption were evident.
An investigative piece by the Deputy Editor of the New Crusading Guide, Anas Aremeyaw Anas showed CEPS officials, police personnel, and National Security officers busily collecting bribes from importers at the Tema Harbour.
The hidden video captured some of the officials at the Harbour dancing to sumptuous music whilst gleefully collecting the bribe, and denying the country of its meager revenue.
The shocking revelation prompted the president to pay a visit to the Harbour and did not hide his anger at the festering corruption at an institution whose core mandate is to raise revenue and check corruption.
The president in his statement said he had always suspected corruption at the Harbour and other places including the country's border and was waiting for the Anas Video to take action.
"...Everyday we hear reports about malpractices; people collecting bribes with careless abandon..." he said.
He was appalled that CEPS officials, as a matter of rule and not the exception, have been building houses and buying cars just three years after being employed, asking how many public officials are able to do that.
President Mills also took a swipe at the Judiciary for not prosecuting some 14 CEPS officials who were indicted by a similar investigation by Anas for aiding and abetting the smuggling of Ghana’s cocoa.
The president’s comments have not gone down well with the Bimbilla MP.
On Joy FM’s news analysis programme News File on Saturday, Dominic Nitiwul said it was unfortunate that the president was all along privy to an institutionalized corruption at the Harbour and elsewhere and yet decided not to activate the state investigative machinery to bring the perpetrators to book.
For the president to rely on a private individual’s investigative piece before taking action on such an issue is most regrettable, Nitiwul stated.
He was also edgy with the President for reposing confidence in the Commissioner of CEPS Major General Carl Mordey, a man who he (Nitiwul) accuses of presiding over the corruption.
He hinted the Commissioner ought to take ultimate responsibility for the bribery and corruption under his nose, instead of the constant plaudit being showered on him by the president.
Nitiwul suspects this new revelation will once again be thrown into the dust bin of history, without any punitive measures, given the way previous investigations at the Elubo, Accra Psychiatric Hospital, Osu Children’s Home have been handled in the past.
He said the 14 CEPS official indicted for cocoa smuggling have been discharged by an Accra High Court because state prosecutors at the AG’s office are disinterested in the case.
The president, he said, can do more than just the talk.
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DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
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