By Solomon Gumah, GNA
Tamale, May 20, GNA – The Sagnarigu Municipal Directorate of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has engaged students of Northern Business Senior High School (NOBISCO) in Tamale on the rule of law, conflict of interest and anti-corruption.
It was to strengthen integrity, accountability, and ethical leadership among the youth.
The engagement formed part of activities under the “Strengthening the Rule of Law and the Fight Against Corruption in Ghana” programme, implemented through the Accountability and Integrity for a Resilient Democracy (PAIRed) initiative, with support from the European Union and GIZ.
It sought to among other things, deepen students’ understanding of governance, institutional accountability, and citizens’ role in combating corruption.
The students, during the engagement, participated in interactive discussions on ethical leadership, governance, and accountability as part of efforts to nurture responsible citizenship and promote integrity among the youth.
Mr Abdulai Soale, Sagnarigu Municipal Director of the NCCE, speaking on “The Rule of Law and Ethical Leadership Standards”, said corruption remained a major challenge to national development and required collective efforts to address.
He said students and young people needed to understand how the state mobilise resources to finance development projects, and the provision of services through taxes, internally generated funds, loans, and other sources, stressing that citizens had a responsibility to ensure prudent use of public resources.
Mr Soale said every citizen had a role to play in fighting corruption at all levels to promote transparency, accountability, and national development.
He said weak rule of law systems, poor ethical leadership, abuse of office, influence peddling and conflict of interest often created opportunities for corruption and weakened public confidence in institutions.
He said the engagement aimed at helping students understand the effects of conflict of interest, institutional decision-making, influence peddling, abuse of office, ethical leadership standards, and their relationship with corruption.
Mr Soale explained the rule of law to the students and said it was a principle of governance in which all persons, institutions and entities, including the state itself were accountable to laws that were publicly promulgated, equally enforced, and independently adjudicated.
He said accountability remained one of the core pillars of the rule of law requiring both public officials and private actors to operate within the confines of the law.
Mr Abdul-Wahab Abdul-Wasiu, an Investigator with the Northern Regional Office of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), who made a presentation on “Conflict of Interest in Public and Institutional Decision Making”, described conflict of interest as a situation where personal interests interfered with official duties and decision-making.
He explained that conflict of interest could be actual, perceived, or potential and often undermined fairness, integrity, and public trust in institutions.
Mr Abdul-Wasiu said conflict of interest could result in corruption, abuse of power, poor institutional decisions, misuse of public resources, and reduced accountability and transparency.
He noted that legal and ethical frameworks such as codes of conduct, ethics policies, asset declaration requirements, and anti-corruption laws had been introduced to address conflict of interest issues.
He urged institutions and public officials to adopt measures including the disclosure of personal interests, recusal from decision-making, transparent procurement and recruitment systems, ethics training, and stronger sanctions to prevent conflicts of interest.
GNA
Edited by Eric K. Amoh/Linda Asante Agyei