Let’s resolve to fight corruption now

Anti-corruption institutions have a big task ahead of them in their efforts at bringing the canker of corruption under control.

The good thing is that since the Daily Graphic and other media houses started their exposé of the rot in the public service, some level-headed and public-spirited Ghanaians have raised their voices against the alleged assault on the public purse.

What appears to be the last straw that broke the camel’s back is the alleged rot at the National Service Scheme (NSS) where the leadership, with the connivance of some of regional and district directors of the scheme, paid about GH¢7.9 million to ghost service persons in July 2014.

Some of these officers are alleged to have paid various sums of money and given out other items as bribes to officers of the Bureau of National Investigations who are investigating the alleged malfeasance.

There is widespread dissipation of public funds by officials put in charge of the public purse. We may be asked for evidence, but we do not need to go far for the data to win the argument that gradually but steadily the capacity of the state to fight crime is breaking down.

The Daily Graphic is alarmed at the level of white-collar crime and the personalities involved in the alleged thievery of state resources for their comfort and that of their friends and families.

It is sad that some public officials, by their greed, fit the description given by Mr Justice Jones Dotse in one of his rulings, that certain public office holders “create, loot and share”.

Anybody who wants to contest this assertion should not go far but just critically examine the various Auditor-General’s Reports laid before Parliament for which no action has been taken beyond the public hearings of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament.

We are not accountants, for which reason we concede that no audit can be conducted without queries, but the queries raised in the reports of the Auditor-General are nauseating, to say the least.

The present management of public resources gives the impression that there is no authority to crack the whip and save our resources to provide for the basic needs of our society.

One effect of the thievery of public funds is the inability of the state to fulfil its obligation to honour statutory payments.

Consequently, most state institutions that rely on the Consolidated Fund have not been able to receive support to carry out their day-to-day functions, except the expenditure which caters for wages and salaries.

The statutory functions of most public institutions have grounded to a halt, as some time ago basic items such as chalk and registers were not provided for our basic schools.

The negative effects of corruption on our national life and psyche call for immediate action to stem the tide.

The Chief Justice, Mrs Justice Georgina Wood, has waded into the controversy, saying that the level of corruption has created serious doubts in the minds of Ghanaians whether any public official or institution could stand up to the scrutiny.

We are not sure whether, given the level of corruption in all spheres of national life, anybody can cast the first stone or stand up to scrutiny.

Be that as it may, the Daily Graphic thinks the leadership of the country, be it temporal or spiritual, must stand up against those who are bent on engaging in corrupt practices.

We appeal to the government, especially the President, to walk the talk by directing the security apparatus to go after those incorrigible characters who are stealing state funds to serve as a deterrent to others.