‘But for greed and avarice, Ghana would have been better’
The Rector of Takoradi Polytechnic has argued that but for greed and avarice, the country has all the laws required to combat the high level of corruption at all levels.
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Professor Daniel Agyapong Nyarko also deplored the situation where people got paid for virtually doing no work, while others on fixed salaries idled about in offices waiting patiently for the end of the month to draw their salaries.
Again, he said, official vehicles served personal and private interests, while self-seeking endeavours had reduced otherwise busy business centres into playgrounds.
Prof. Nyarko made these observations during lectures to mark the 50th anniversary of the Institute of Chartered accountants, Ghana.
He attributed the surge in corrupt acts to laws which did not bite in Ghana and that the lousy enforcement of laws often left sour grapes in the mouth of the public and, therefore, called on the judiciary to rise to the occasion and apply the rules to the letter because it was not enough for people to go to jail for corrupt practices.
“We demand the confiscation of the ill-gotten wealth and it must be without exception —the long arms of the law must not spare family members, friends, and cronies,” he said.
Prof. Nyarko called for the empowerment of the anti-corruption agencies to prosecute cases without any interference.
He said having beautifully crafted codes of conduct for public and allied officials was not enough but that “Political will to prosecute must be present; office holders must be made accountable for their stewardship and anybody proven guilty of corruption must be named and shamed.”
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The rector expressed shock that every six out of 10 persons professed to the Christian faith while churches competed favourably with the number of shops in towns and cities at a near one-to-one ratio.
“Churches, therefore, have a role to uphold the conscience and integrity of the nation.
“The churches, and family members must begin to question all ill-gotten wealth and ostracise those who do not come with clean hands,” he stressed.
To eradicate corruption, he said conscious efforts must be made through public education to grow a new breed of Ghanaians who would imbibe the values of honesty, eschew greed and be each other’s keeper.
Construction
Prof. Nyarko said engineers who knew better were certifying poor construction works and monies unduly paid for shoddy jobs certified by them.
He called for such engineers to be prosecuted to instil discipline and serve as deterrent to others in the industry.
“Public procurement is another area fraught with corrupt practices. The straight rules and longer procedures make circumvention attractive,” he said.
Prof. Nyarko proposed that the straight rules and long procedures must be reviewed to make it easy and friendly to engender voluntary compliance.
“All public contracts must have review clauses for all items and not part thereof so that unfriendly portions can be changed on review dates,” he said.