Mr Paul Oppong, the Asante-Akim Central Municipal Director of NCCE who was speaking at a stakeholder’s forum on corruption organised by the NCCE and funded by the municipal assembly said the damage that corruption was causing the state required the involvement of every citizen to tackle the social evil.

It was attended by representatives of traditional authorities, religious leaders, civil society organisations, market women, political parties and assembly members. Mr. Oppong said corruption was a major obstacle to democracy and rule of law and underlined the need to bring perpetrators to book irrespective of their status and influence in society.

Political activists must also desist from besieging courts and other state institutions handling cases involving party members cited for corruption, adding that “they must allow the law to take its course”.

He advocated the enactment of stringent laws to deal with corruption, saying the existing laws were not deterrent enough.Mr. Wilson Arthur, the Regional Director of NCCE noted that most of the national anti-corruption strategies targeted the symptoms rather than causes of corruption.

He said corruption since independence had been a threat to national development with successive governments failing to address it decisively and called on the citizenry to rise up against the menace. Mrs. Susan Akomeah, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) said corruption was not limited to only politicians but endemic in both public and private sector institutions.

It is against this background, she noted, that government set up the office of the special prosecutor to tackle the canker head-on.