President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has indicated that many of the problems that plague the country have something to do with the mal-functioning of the law, including the banking crisis that has led to the collapse of some indigenous banks.
According to President Akufo-Addo, “the story of every bank that has had problems, be they indigenous Ghanaian banks or international banks, like Barings Bank, Lehman Brothers, Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), each one can be traced to someone or some people breaking the law, or trying to cut corners by flouting regulations.”
The effects of these acts of lawlessness, the President said, “have been, invariably, the loss, and threat of loss, of innocent depositors’ savings and jobs.”
President Akufo-Addo said this whilst addressing the 2018 Annual Conference of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), in Koforidia on Monday September 10, 2018.
He stated, in his address, that one apparent restraint to Ghana’s progress, i.e. the missing link in the country’s governance system, which hampers the rapid economic development we seek, is the deficit in the application of the rule of law.
“It affects everyday life. It is about breaking rules and regulations in many aspects of our lives, and wanting to, and, indeed, circumventing the laws that are meant to guide our society,” he said.
He continued, “It has to do with driving recklessly, and breaking all the traffic regulations and trying to bribe the police when you are pulled up. It has to do with not getting the proper permit to build a house, and it has to do with looking the other way when something wrong is going on.”
For members of the legal fraternity, the President stated that “it has to do with sharp practice and unethical behaviour by some lawyers, which jeopardise the administration of justice and the interests of ordinary people. It has to do with judicial corruption, which, a priori, constitutes a violation of the judicial oath.”
The degradation of the environment, pollution of the atmosphere and water bodies, petty bribery and corruption, bribery and corruption on a grand scale, he added are clear cases of people braking the law.
Source: Graphic.com
