Why Corruption is on the ascendency in Ghana

By – Abagna Jose Nelson

“As our former president, John Kuffour said some years ago “Corruption is as old as Adam and Eve”

One major factor that have drawn Ghana’s development back in my opinion is CORRUPTION which has eaten deep into the very foundation of our society and it’s a worried now.

Corruption is a bound in all sphere of the society, In the church, market, offices, all around us.

People engage in various forms of corruption and mostly these acts are given little or no attention at all.

However, our focus has always been on the political class due to their vulnerability nature.

But for me, the public and civil servants are the “old kingpins of these corrupt acts “ whom are often left of the hook when issues or discussion surrounding corruption comes up.

In this day and age, we have conveniently narrowed corruption to politicians and government officials.

I must quickly make the point that I am not trying to acquit them as I know there are many politicians and government officials with corruption scandals on their necks.

Basically, I am only seeking to widen the scope of corruption conversation.

In this article, I will be trying to give three reasons why corruption is on the rise in Ghana.

Firstly, the quest to get wealthy fast

In our society today, the wealthy people are the most feared and respected and many have turned them into tin gods and worship them almost on daily basis. This has made even the jobless young ones always looking out for an opportunity to get wealthy fast and also enjoy and earn the respect of the society.

There is nothing wrong to want to live a lavishly lifestyle when you work hard for it but many people now equate using corrupt means to get wealthy within a short time as working smartly.

So, given any little opportunity, they do things to beat a weak system and get the needed money to live the kind of lifestyle they so desired.

The mindset of getting wealth fast in life without working hard for it, is the reason for certain corrupt acts by people especially the youth.

Secondly, System failure

Yes, there are many laws and regulations against corruption activities in the country, many law enforcement agencies, anti-corruption agencies, the media and other civil society organization talks and drummed home the fight against corruption.

Yet, there are still lots of corruption activities in the country. I personally, believes the enforcement and implementation of those laws are a serious challenge to us as a country.

Also the bureaucracy in most of the public sector institutions also provides breeding ground for corruption. We lose a lot of money through the public sector bureaucracy acts as a friend recently mentioned to me in a conversation that “he had no option than to bribed a public servant due to how long and complex the process was for him to get what he wanted from that particular office”. This makes people to lose trust in our public institutions.

These monies lost through various acts of corruption activities could have been use to improve our educational or health sector.

And people that usual want to voiced out these concerns are seemed as either fools or enemies to the one benefiting from the weak system.

The other issue that is allowing corruption through our systems failures is the lack transparency and low pay as these officials either thinks whatever they are doing, eyes are not monitoring them and they need more money than their pay can give them.

And even though, many of our anti-corruption institutions are not sufficiently resources which can also limit their effectiveness fight against corruption.

Meanwhile, the country continues to lose billions of cedi’s through these corrupt acts.

Monies lost through corruption could have been used to do something significantly for the country.

The third and finally reason in my opinion why it’s difficult to win the fight against corruption in Ghana is the huge expectation we place on our leaders.

It is very common, in this part of our world that once a family member becomes a boss or breakthrough financially, members of the family put a lot of pressure on them to help them also established themselves.

This is something that have pushed many leaders or Senior office holders to go beyond the what the law requires to please those putting the pressure on them in order to be seen as good leaders.

An example is when you become the Inspector General of Police, family relatives, friends and all manner of people will expect that you admit them into the police service whether they have the qualification or not. If you are not able to employ them, you are seen as a wicked person

The few that have been able to stand their ground and insist on following the right process are often seen as wicked or bad family members who does not care about their family successes.

It is common knowledge that many citizens makes a lot of outrageous demands from those in leadership positions especially the political class and as Chenua Achebe opined in his book No longer at Ease “A corrupt government can only remain in power if its citizens remain complicit.”

A few suggestions on how to tackle corruption

A comprehensive approach, involving all stakeholders like, government, civil society organization, media, anti-corruption agencies and citizens.

Its about time to begin to think a strategic plan, long term, to deal with the canker that has eaten deep into the fiber of our society.

A government that intend to fight corruption and win must strengthen its anti-corruption agencies like EOCO, CHRAJ, The Police, etc resource them well and allow them the political will power to prosecute anyone no matter the person position in the society, by so doing, it will serve as a serious warming to anyone intending to do any corrupt act.

Again, our public institutions must promote transparency and be steadfast in their dealing with the citizens and enhance accountability whiles also educating them about their rights and responsibilities this will enable them to know what services to pay money for and what not to pay.

Furthermore, the society must begin to reduce the pressure they put on leaders and lower their expectations of them. This will allow them the freedom to work for the betterment of the entire society and the country and large.

Finally, our educational system must prioritize character training alongside skills and knowledge as an educated person should not only possess qualification, knowledge and skills but a good character. A character that is built on values, morality, principles and ethical standards.

This will make our young ones begin to appreciate that life is more than ugly gotten wealth.

 

Feature written by Abagna Jose Nelson

GBC URA Radio.

Source – gbcuraonline.com