The head of the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), COP Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah has expressed frustration with the lack of evidence to prosecute the many issues of crime that come to her office.

According to her, people make wild allegations publicly accusing others of crimes before the cases come to EOCO. Thus in the court of public opinion, the individual so accused is already prosecuted and deemed guilty. However, when it comes to backing these claims with evidence, no one is ready to talk.

Speaking to JoyNews, she said “Evidence gathering is one of the major challenges that we face. You have a lot of people making wild allegations but when it comes to supporting the allegations with evidence, you won’t even hear from them again.” 

Her comments come in the wake of Ghana scoring 43 out of 100 for the fourth year running in the recent Corruption Perceptions Index report released by Transparency International.

COP Tiwaa Addo-Danquah, heading one of the two institutions mandated by law to fight corruption, said most often people like to make wild accusations without supporting them with facts. Therefore, when it is time to prosecute the cases, there is no evidence available. 

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“The point is that it is not about saying something and it is not about how many media houses are carrying out that allegation. It is about your ability to put credible evidence together that will be presented to a judge for prosecution and remember the judges are not listening to whatever is being said on social media,” she lamented.

She added that most citizens did not understand the struggle her institution faced, and sometimes felt they were being biased or selective.

“So when you have a case where the person has been tried, convicted in the court of public opinion, we are unable to gather the kind of evidence that will (succeed) at the court.

"The public will say that no, the institution is either not working well or there is something wrong with it.

“Like any other crime, you need evidence to prosecute. It is not because you say it is not about the truth. It is about your ability to gather information to do that," she added.