He said, “Corruption denies the public of their socio-economic development, affecting the individuals and collective interest of the citizenry to enjoy the wealth of the nation” and asked all patriotic Ghanaians to rise up and help the nation to win the fight against it.

He was speaking at separate durbars in the Central Gonja District as part of the Accountability, Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption Programme (ARAP) campaign. The one month-long ARAP campaign is aimed at promoting good governance to end corruption, improve accountability as well as being compliance to the rule of law to aid in development.

The exercise, organised by the NCCE and supported by the European Union (EU) held a total of 30 community engagements and ten public announcements including dawn and dusk broadcast to get public educated on corruption.

The exercise covered Artisan groups, Women groups, Traditional authorities, Faith Based Organisations, Educational Institutions, as well as Hospitals/Clinics as the target group for the exercise.

Mr Abdulai stated that, Article 35 (8) of the Directive Principal of the State Policy provides that: “The state shall take all necessary steps to eradicate corrupt practices and the abuse of power” all in effort to end corruption.

He explained that, the NCCE was mandated by statutory provisions including the National Anti-Corruption Action Plan by way of participating in the fight against corruption; hence, the engagement exercise.

Participants at the various communities were educated on the various aspects of corruption, which included fraud, looting, misappropriation, nepotism as well as embezzlement as the highest form of corrupt practices.