THE DEPUTY Director of anti-corruption of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Charles Ayamdoo, has stated that corruption, especially in a grand and systemic form, impedes full realization of human rights, lowers moral standards and drains the nation's resources.

According to him, this situation undermines the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights guaranteed in law and also worsens poverty, hunger, illiteracy and insecurity in the country.

"With corruption, the rights to life, dignity and equality, and all other rights lose their meaning, let alone be realized," he stated.

He noted that corruption and human rights are inextricably interrelated and interdependent, hence the promotion and protection of human rights cannot be divorced from the fight against corruption, which is a threat to the rule of law, democratic system of government, individuals and society at large.

Mr. Ayamdoo was speaking at a Center for Democratic Development (CDD) workshop on the theme; "Exploring and Deepening the Linkage Between Corruption and Human Rights", on Tuesday in Accra to assess the role of civil society organizations, the media, parliament and other stakeholders in highlighting corruption as a human rights issue and be fought in that direction.

He explained that corruption also affects the enjoyment of civil and political rights as endemic corruption has caused and deepened egregious human rights violations through insurrections, coups, civil wars and conflict, particularly on the African continent.

He said, "It was the cause of eight coups in Ghana."

Continuing, he said corruption, commonly referred to as misuse or abuse of public office for private use, mismanagement of resources, conflict of interest, inflation of contract sums and stealing of public funds among many others in high levels lead to break down of the rule of law and disrespect for human rights, hence the need to use a rights-based approach to fight it.

Debunking the idea that corruption was confined to only the public sector, he averred that corruption was also prevalent in the private sector and comprises shortcut methods used in getting what people do not qualify for or deserve, and short-circuit bureaucratic and exploitative queue.

He pointed out that, "Government contracts are invariably given out to private enterprises, both domestic and international.

Corruption remains prevalent in all spheres in Ghana."

He mentioned lack of enforcement of clear and compelling guidelines on conflict of interest in the operation of state institutions, in particular in contravention of its provisions outlined in chapter 24 of the 1992 constitution as one of the main causes to the prevalence of corruption.

He observed that the chapter seeks to address conflicts between public duty and private interest of public officials and as such there is the need for Article 284 of the constitution that states, "a public officer shall not put himself in a position where his personal interest conflicts or is likely to conflict with the performance of the functions of his office" to be highlighted in tackling issues of corruption.

Mr. Ayamdoo indicated that low existence of corruption in society, enhances the enjoyment of human rights and eliminates the usual costs such as loss of funds for development, fighting poverty, over-inflation of administrative costs and loss of confidence in systems and institutions among others.

To ensure the elimination or lowering corruption to the barest minimum, he suggested that the anti-corruption functions of CHRAJ be given to another body so they could effectively ensure the enjoyment of other rights such as right to education, health and other socio-economic rights.

He also called for strategies that would ensure that people enjoyed their rights and lived in dignity and respect, saying, "Using a human rights approach to dealing with corruption is the best option to fight corruption and ensure a culture of human rights in our circumstances."

To further enhance the capacity of fighting the canker of corruption, he appealed to human rights and anti-corruption organizations to demonstrate greater courage, leadership and genuine commitment to making a change, and advocated the need to get the younger generation to appreciate anti-corruption values through extensive civic and human rights education in schools from the lower levels upwards.

According to him, this would go a long way to guarantee Ghanaians a corruption-free society where basic human rights are inherent and also mean "better opportunities for the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights".

"The enjoyment of these rights is undermined whenever there is corruption."