Founder of the National Interest Movement (NIM), Dr. Abu Sakara Foster, has advocated for lifestyle audits to be conducted on public officials as a means to combat corruption in the country.
According to him, these audits would reveal how public officials have acquired their properties, providing important insight into potential corruption.
Speaking on JoyNews AM show on April 22, he stated that NIM has already identified a person who would lead these audits should the party come to power.
According to him, relying on information from ordinary people, would lead to more successful prosecutions, whereas traditional methods often fail to yield significant results.
“Yes, you can have the Office of the Special Prosecutor but it is only with information from ordinary people who are at the implementing end that you get to the real details and you can prosecute, other than that your prosecution fails more than they succeed.
“So, we have to have a desk that is linked not only to our Ministry of Information but also to linked national intelligence system, where anybody in this studio can call and say Dr Abu Sakara just left, he has taken two of your bottles from Joy FM.
“Somebody should investigate and verify it. If you have that kind of system, information can be given and acted upon before it is then built into a dossier for people who would do the prosecution. I think we would have more success and there should not be a conflict of interest”, he stated.
Additionally, Dr. Abu Sakara Foster stated that the judiciary should be empowered to act independently.
According to him, part of the problem with the judiciary is the appointment process, and he believes that there should be a system of appointments that allows the judiciary to have a significant role in deciding who is appointed to judicial positions.
He emphasised that the executive should not be able to appoint those it favours, as this undermines the independence of the judiciary.
“As opposed to the executive system sitting there and compromising itself by appointment, those that it wants or those who are perceived to be those that they want, I think there is a whole series of interventions that need to be made in order to correct the system. It is a system correction that we need before we can have the return investment in implementation”, he said.
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