SEC shows the way

Citizens have time and again expressed their disappointment in the inability of law enforcement agencies and people put in positions of trust to enforce the very laws that we have all agreed to enact to regulate our activities as a country.

Human beings by their nature will ordinarily choose freedom without restrictions.

Without inhibitions they will do what seems right in their own eyes, which will lead to the situation where people become oblivious to the fact that one’s freedom ends where another’s begins.

What is important to note is that people must not be allowed to exercise what they think is their unfettered freedom at the expense of the rights of others.

Again, we must be mindful that much as laws protect the general safety of the citizenry and ensure their rights as citizens against abuses by other people, organisations and even the government itself, they also place a responsibility on the individual and prescribe the appropriate punishment to those who flout the laws to serve as a deterrent to others, to serve as a tool for protection of society from criminals and to compensate victims for crimes perpetrated against them.

Obviously, it is our inability to let the law bite and hold people accountable for their action that has emboldened many to break the laws with impunity, and we have all become victims of the effects of our failure to allow the laws to work.

The near total breakdown of discipline in society, that is manifest in land guard operations by lawless hoodlums who clearly are aided by highly placed personalities, breaking of traffic rules and regulations, indiscriminate dumping of refuse, corruption, misappropriation and misapplication of public funds, among many others, are mainly the result of our failure to fully implement and enforce the beautiful laws that we have.

So, someone or a group of people can, just out of the blue, wake up one day and set up shady microfinance, savings and loans companies, so-called investment companies to dupe people.

They are aware that the laws have become just exhibits and they can outmanoeuvre the consequences of their actions.

But all is not lost.

After the bitter experiences some Ghanaians went through lately with their investment and the heavy criticism that was unleashed on regulators, the Daily Graphic is happy that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has cracked the whip by revoking the licences of five companies and stopping them from fund management activities.

We commend the SEC for the action and urge it on to be even more stringent in applying the rules so that others who think they can take advantage of the laxity in the system dupe innocent investors will revise their notes.

We encourage other regulatory bodies in the country to take a cue from the SEC and bite even harder so that we can have a society that respects the law which ripple effect will be for the benefit of all.

As we say so, we urge all law enforcement agencies right from the local and assembly level to the national level to sit up and be counted so that together we can chart a course that will place Ghana at the level we envisage it to be.

At the end of it all, the appointing authorities must not hesitate to fire those who are underperforming and bring on board people hungry for success.

It is only this that will make people sit up to perform the duties assigned them with diligence.