The Agbogbomefia of the Asogli State, Togbe Afede XIV, has bemoaned the rate at which corruption is dissipating the country’s scarce resources.
The outspoken chief said if the government had dealt properly with issues of corruption, the current economic crisis wouldn’t have been upon the country.
According to him, the government has not backed expenditure with honesty and prudence.
Togbe Afede XIV opined that had these two virtues been exhibited, the country would not be needing a loan from external sources.
According to him, the country’s budget deficits would have been reduced as well.
“Ghana Integrity Initiative estimated that Ghana ‘loses close to USD3billion to corruption annually’.
“There is no doubt that our budget deficit would have been narrower, and we probably would not need to borrow from external sources, if honesty and prudence had guided our spending,” he said.
He thus blamed this on the use of single source in awarding government contracts.
This, he explained that makes way for government apparatchiks and cronies to dupe the state.
“The resort to single sourcing or limited tender in the award of contracts, under false certificates
of urgency, has been harmful.
“It has allowed a few to deploy foul means to secure contracts for relatives and cronies at inflated prices that hurt everybody.
“While some exploit ‘urgency’, other officials hide under ‘confidentiality’ to appropriate our limited resources into personal wealth.
The venerable chief made these comments in in a 14-page opinion piece over the weekend.
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