A retired professor of Economics, Prof. George Ayittey is asking President John Mahama to make politically difficult choices, including cutting down on the number of ministers if he wants to deal decisively with corruption.

President Mahama has come under criticism from some members of his party as well as civil society for not doing enough to combat corruption.

But he has rebuffed the criticisms, saying he will come up with new measures to fight the canker in due time.

Prof Ayittey is also proposing that the allowances of ministers be slashed to reduce excessive spending by government.

He was speaking at a news conference organized by the Institute of Economic Affairs, IEA, in Accra on Thursday.

Prof. Ayittey later told Joy News’ Daryl Kwaow the institution that ought to take a leading role in the fight against corruption is Parliament, and not the presidency.

He explained that every year, the Accountant General’s Department submits a report about how state funds were expended by state institutions. He said if the Auditor General finds something fishy he alerts the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament to investigate.

He said it is the responsibility of Members of Parliament to carefully scrutinize the report to identify waste and report suspicious expenditure to the Attorney General for action.

He commended the Member of Parliament for Assin North Kennedy Agyapong whose diligence uncovered the dubious payment of judgment debt to Alfred Agbesi Woyome.

Prof. Ayittey described the work of Economic and Organised Crim Office, Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice, and Bureau of National Investigations as parallel whose services would not be needed if the Attorney General were to do its job well.