Former Chairman of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) James Klutse Avedzi has criticised the mere recovery of stolen public funds from corrupt officials without further consequences. According to him, allowing offenders to simply refund misappropriated money without facing punishment sets a dangerous precedent that encourages corruption.
“The recovery of the money is good. It’s okay. We should do that,” the current Director General of the Securities and Exchanges Commission acknowledged in an interview on Joy News’ PM Express Business Edition last Thursday. “But that should not mean that we are focusing only on the recovery of the money and leaving the punishment part.”
He painted a stark picture of how corrupt individuals continue to benefit from their actions despite being caught. “Someone takes $10 million of government money and trades on that money, makes an additional $5 million, and is caught. They have to pay only the $10 million. How about the $5 million profit or interest that the person has made?” he questioned.
Mr Avedzi insisted that corruption should not be treated as a financial transaction where one can simply return what was stolen and walk free. “We recover the money, but we must punish the person,” he stressed, warning that failure to enforce strict punitive measures only emboldens corrupt officials. He expressed frustration over how some individuals see public funds as personal assets they can take and later return without repercussions.
In any case, why do you want to take the government’s money and then later give it back? The government needs money to do projects for everybody, but you want to take it as an individual. It’s wrong.” Mr Avedzi’s comments add to growing calls for harsher legal actions against public officials cited in the Auditor General’s reports for misappropriating state resources.
While recovery efforts remain a necessary step, the failure to criminalize and penalize offenders continues to fuel a culture of impunity within Ghana’s public sector. With these concerns, the former PAC Chairman is pushing for a shift from mere reimbursements to stringent legal consequences, ensuring that those who steal from the state face the full force of the law.
By: Abubakar Ibrahim
