Freelance investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni has described the fight against corruption as a very dangerous venture. He noted that whether the one fighting against it is a journalist, a politician or a member of a civil society organization, their life is endangered.
Speaking today, October 29, 2020, at the 2020 Baah-Wiredu Memorial Lecture, Mr Azure Awuni stated that the corruption situation in the country has become worse under the current administration, adding that “whoever engages in the fight against corruption takes on a very dangerous venture, whether that person is a journalist, a politician or a civil society.
He stressed that even if the President takes on the fight seriously, his life will be in danger. “And I must say that even of the President gets serious about fighting corruption, his life will be endangered,” he asserted.
Mr Azure Awuni, renowned for his anti-corruption investigations, noted that the lack of protection for journalists is hampering the fight against corruption in the country.
He also pointed out that the media was not holding public officers to account well enough as the country’s constitution enjoins it to do.
The Baah-Wiredu Memorial Lecture
The Baah-Wiredu Memorial Lecture has been instituted in remembrance of the late Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, a Finance Minister under John Kufuor’s administration.
This year’s theme was: “Protecting The Public Purse: The Media and Fighting Corruption in the 4th Republic of Ghana. And Mr Manasseh Azure Awuni was the Speaker.
The event for 2020 was put together by policy think tank, the Ghana Institute for Public Policy Options and the Multimedia Group.
