The menace has become endemic and there is the need for religious leaders to curb it so that the expected socioeconomic development is not stalled.

Apostle Dr Aaron Ami-Narh, the President of the Apostolic Church-Ghana, challenged the leadership of churches to lead the way in tackling corruption because the issue had become endemic in a nation that had majority of its citizens being religious, who were expected to lead the moral compass in society.

He cautioned that the country’s expected progress, growth and development may never be achieved “if the situation continues to remain because we say it but I think we joke with the issue and we are no longer shocked there is corruption and there is corruption even in the church.

‘We must take the bull by the horn and ask ourselves what we can do to correct the situation because no matter what comes into this nation, so long as the canker of corruption still exists, it will get into the pockets of just a few and the nation will still be impoverished so the church must show the way,” Apostle Dr Ami-Narh entreated.

The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) had stated that it is committed, dedicated and determined to crack down on corruption through prosecutions and asset recoveries using a new corruption league table to be published later in the year which is expected to enable the office to document corruption and expose peddlers of the canker.

Even though it recognises various corruption rankings, scorings and surveys being carried out however, it comes down to nature of information gathered, use to which such information is put, documenting, measuring, ascertaining breeding, naming and shaming peddlers of corruption.

The OSP said it would also be examining impact of anti-corruption initiatives, taking curative, remedial measures to crack down on corruption through prosecutions, asset recovery and management.

It noted that it is time to move beyond composite annual ranking of countries on corruption drop list to own the country’s local narrative, fashion and retool reformation by prodding public sector into real and concrete action against corruption and corrupt practices.