A leading member of the political pressure group, Committee for Joint Action, (CJA) says government is taking too long to prosecute former government appointees suspected to have engaged in corrupt practices. Mr. Kwesi Pratt Jnr. said five months in office is time long enough for President J.E.A. Mills to have lived up to his pledge to prosecute corrupt officials in the previous government. President Mills promised not to shield anybody who is found to have violated the law and engaged in corruption. But since coming into office five months ago, the president has yet to put anybody on trial despite the overwhelming evidence his party said was available to warrant the conviction of some persons in the Kufuor-led administration. The National Security Adviser, Brigadier-General Nunoo-Mensah is on record to have said that the prosecution of former officials will soon start, but the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Betty-Mould Iddrisu countered the claim and said thorough investigations were needed. She stressed the need for a distinction to be made between investigation of allegations and prosecution. According to her, there were no immediate plans to prosecute anybody as yet. But speaking at a public forum on corruption in Accra, Mr. Pratt said the conduct of the government on the subject so far is not good enough. “President Mills won this election with a promise to uphold the principles of accountability, probity and integrity. Five months have passed and we are waiting…, probity, accountability and integrity, we want to see. “He has to behave like Jesus Christ and crack the whip, crack that damned whip,” he charged. A private legal practitioner, Anthony Namong, however thinks prosecution is not as simple as it has been made to appear. He said government cannot rush to prosecute people, urging that government rather errs on the side of caution. He said if undue pressure is put on the government to prosecute people, due diligence might not be done and that could create problems for the prosecution. According to him, government needs to commission auditors to conduct investigation and the auditees must be given the opportunity to respond and all that requires time. “There are certain cases that are very complex and you need technical advice before you can send them to court,” Mr. Namong explained. The burden of proof lies on the prosecution “and so if you hurry up just because there are external pressures, and you come to court and hit the rock, then you would not have done any good to yourself,” he stated. The lawyer stressed that taking a case to court is one thing and succeeding with the case is another. Story by Malik Abass Daabu/Myjoyonline.com