Fight against corruption: A national crusade

All our past governments laid down plans to fight corruption, but the twin evils of bribery and corruption continue to limit our capacity to invest in national development efforts.

Sometimes the citizens think our political leaders only pay lip service to the fight against bribery and corruption because of the lack of political will to deal with culprits, especially if it concerns members of the ruling government.

The day our governments will muster courage to prosecute their own to set an example and make corruption a high-risk venture, we will be on the path to ridding the country of corruption.

In the Second Republic, there was a campaign against corruption. At that time, the then Centre for Civic Education, the equivalent of today’s National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), was tasked with the clear mandate to educate the people on their rights and responsibilities.

One of such campaigns was against corruption, which sensitised the people in clear terms never to give bribe because that action tended to corrupt both the giver and the receiver.

At various times in our nationhood, including the military interregnums, our leaders made clear pledges to nip corruption in the bud.

Unfortunately, the canker continues to hamper our attempts to protect the public purse for nation building.

We cannot blame politicians for the ineffectiveness of the campaign, although they are key players in this endeavour.  Support from the citizenry is also needed to achieve success.

A critical look at the Auditor-General’s Reports indicates that it is not good enough to put corruption at the doorstep of politicians because the reports, more often than not, indict public servants and not politicians.

That is why it is difficult for ordinary Ghanaians to understand why our governments have not been able to deal with civil servants who dissipate the public purse.

There is also an attitude among Ghanaians that must change, if the fight against wrongdoing is to be sustained to achieve results. More often than not, members of our society rally to the defence of wrongdoers, to the extent that it is difficult for those in authority to exercise their authority to discipline wrongdoers.

It sounds paradoxical that even priests, who are to follow the examples of Jesus Christ who, at a point, used the cane to drive away people who were defiling the House of God, intervene on behalf of wrongdoers.

It is, therefore, not surprising that the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, recently warned wrongdoers not to go to his wife to intervene on their behalf.

Last Monday, the President, at the swearing-in ceremony of the new Chief Justice, Ms Justice Sophia Akuffo, reiterated the fact that his government would not shield anyone who was found to have broken the laws of the land.

The Daily Graphic thinks the time has come for our governments to move away from the rhetoric to deal with corrupt officials, no matter their status in society.

It is when the axe begins to fall heavily on those who steal state money that the fight against corruption will scare those who are bent on syphoning taxpayers’ money for selfish gains.

The Daily Graphic thinks that Ghanaians do not have an option in this fight. Our only worry is that it is taking too long to break the back of the perpetrators and we can no longer treat corrupt officials with kid gloves.