GHANA TURNS TO COURTS TO COMBAT CORRUPTION

UNCLAS ACCRA 000770

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

DEPT FOR AF/W

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KCRM KDEM CVIS GH
SUBJECT: GHANA TURNS TO COURTS TO COMBAT CORRUPTION


1. (SBU) Summary: Two recent corruption cases have received
media attention, and suggest an increasing propensity for
government and non-governmental actors to use the legal
system to combat public corruption. Government prosecutors
charged a government official for his role in fraudulently
organizing 14 non-disabled Ghanaians to travel to Australia
for a soccer tournament for the deaf. At the same time, a
Kumasi non-governmental organization (NGO) filed a lawsuit
against the drivers license authority for selling licenses to
unqualified drivers who had not taken the statutorily
required tests, asking the court to compel the licensing
authority to follow its statutory duties. These cases are
significant and positive in that private and public actors
are turning to the courts to challenge corruption. However,
it is unclear at this point how large an impact this will
have on Ghana's substantial corruption problem. End Summary.


2. (U) On August 7, prosecutors initiated court proceedings
against James Armah, a Sports Development Officer at the
National Sports Council. Armah is accused of charging 14
non-disabled Ghanaians 4,000 cedis each to participate in a
soccer tournament for the deaf held in Australia in July.
None of the 14 hearing Ghanaians have returned from
Australia. According to media reports, Deaf Football
Australia has threatened to make a formal complaint against
the Association of Sports for the Disabled of Ghana (ASBOG)
for sending hearing players, and demanded reimbursement for
expenses incurred for the planned "friendly" soccer match.


3. (U) Separately, an NGO, Akwaaba Foundation, filed a civil
lawsuit against the Kumasi Driver and Vehicle Licensing
Authority (DVLA),claiming that the DVLA breached its duty to
promote good driving standards by selling drivers licenses to
unqualified individuals and failing to conduct tests.
Akwaaba cited specific examples in which individuals were
sold licenses without testing, as well as official statistics
on road accidents in Ghana. Akwaaba's attorney asked the
court to order the DVLA to comply with the Driver and Vehicle
Licensing Act. (Note: Akwaaba included the Ministry of Road
Transport and the Attorney General and Minister of Justice as
defendants in the lawsuit, for their failure to exercise
oversight over DVLA. End Note). Akwaaba's stated mission is
to promote education and information on the "unacceptable"
level of road accidents in Ghana.


4. (SBU) Comment: These cases are encouraging, underlining a
willingness of both private and public actors to use the
legal system to combat government malfeasance. However, it
remains to be seen whether either case will prove successful,
or how aggressively the government will pursue cases of
corruption. Furthermore, with regard to the Australian deaf
soccer tournament, we note that this type of visa fraud (in
which travel is formally sponsored by the government but the
participants fail to return to Ghana) is a problem and rarely
prosecuted, and that the judiciary has been inconsistent in
its approach to public corruption cases. End Comment.
TEITELBAUM