The Deputy Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Mr Richard Quayson, has said building integrity and the fight against corruption is everyone’s business. This is because at the end of the day individuals and the nation stood to suffer most, especially from shoddy road constructions as a result of the dishonest approval of contracts and the poor delivery of social services from the diversion of funds. In an interview with the Daily Graphic prior to a national integrity conference that will take place today, he said that integrity, like a shield, protected public servants in the course of their work. The conference commence today, October 12 to Thursday, October 14,201l. Mr Quayson said with integrity, public servants in their decision making and implementation could get the cooperation of all as any decision would be seen as having been taken in the interest of all. He said increasingly, the perception was that when a public servant was to travel outside for a programme in connection with his or her work some public funds might have been diverted for the purpose. He said the perceptions were fuelled by the disregard for integrity in public service. Mr Quayson said the national conference on integrity was within this context, to revive and build strong national integrity systems in a bid to restore public trust and strengthen the fight against corruption. Mr Quayson said the three-day conference, would take stock of progress made since 1998 when the first integrity conference by CHRAJ resulted in the establishment of the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), the National Anti Corruption Action Plan (NACAP), the Ghana Anti Corruption Coalition (GACC) and the development of the whistle Blowers Act. He said most of the initiatives had run their course and it was time for stocktaking for restrategising for better outcome. For instance, he mentioned that a new NACAP Action Plan had been finalised and that was to be validated at the conference for adoption and implementation in subsequent years. Mr Quayson, who described Danish Development Agency (DANIDA) as the country’s best friend by championing human rights activities, said they were sponsoring the conference. The conference will be on the theme: “Building a Robust Ethics Infrastructure to Promote Integrity in Ghana”, and will have about 150 participants from anti corruption and key accountability institutions in the country. There will also be delegates from the Anti Corruption Commission in Malaysia, the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime in Botswana, the Office of the Public Prosecutor in South Africa and anti corruption institutions from the ECOWAS member states, the World Bank, DANIDA, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), civil society organisations and the media.