Demanding accountability from public institutions (4)
Late 2012, I was invited to do a public book review of a just published autobiography written by BaafuorAgyemanDuah, entitled My Ghanaian Odyssey, in which he makes stunning revelations about a bribery encounter with the office of a Speaker of Parliament in the 1990s.
Then representing a renowned think tank, Baafuor was given access to highly influential organisations and personalities around whom Ghana’s democracy revolved. One shocking revelation in the early phase of the author’s encounter with local bureaucracy was a clue that key officials of the legislature were not completely immune to bribery and executive graft. According to the author, the smooth transfer of a brown envelope to the Speaker’s assistant may have helped to pave the way for seeing the Speaker with proposals for parliamentary reforms.
The embarrassing episode was made worse when the Speaker’s compromised assistant later called by phone, and brazenly complained of the low denominations in which the dollar bills had been issued!! Ten 100 dollar bills would clearly have been preferred over several 20 dollar bills, which were rather bulky, and would attract much lower exchange rates
. That single incident did not only leave a dent on the office of the Honorable Speaker; it was also a sign of the uncomfortable realities encountered when a private member or institution sought to introduce a bill or reforms within the legislature.
Whether whistle blowers within Parliament were subjected to intimidation or not, the truth was that the Legislature placed fourth in the Corruption Perception Index; it was perceived as the fourth most corrupt institution within the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) survey.
CHRAJ
The issues I have raised have nothing to do with the adequacy or otherwise of anti-corruption legislation in our books. My concerns border on the amount of political will that can be possibly mustered by ethically weakened public institutions to combat corruption, as well as the moral authority they wield to support adequate budgetary allocations for institutions (such as CHRAJ, EOCO, and the like) that are constitutionally mandated to deal with graft and serious fraud within the public sector, but appear to be too impoverished to effectively execute their mandate.
Judiciary
But the third arm of Government, the Judiciary, has not been spared the perception of corruption, either. In the CDD Afro Barometer survey, judges and magistrates placed fourth after members of Parliament as the most corrupt. The perception since 2002 had worsened by 15 percentage points in 2014: from 70 per cent in 2002 to 85 per cent in 2014.
In this connection, one can only recall the fate of four lawyers who in 2011 at a seminar in Koforidua, made allegations of corruption within the judiciary and suffered for it. It included Dr Raymond Atugugba, who was then the Secretary of the Constitutional Review Committee. For their ‘sins,’ the four were hauled before the General Legal Council by the Association of Magistrates and Judges (AMJ) to substantiate the allegations. In a communiqué issued and signed by the entirety of the 25-member Executive Council, the AMJ resolved to recluse themselves from hearing cases in which any of the four lawyers appear, until the case was resolved.
Even before the council began hearing the case, the AMJ had begun boycotting cases involving the four lawyers. The Supreme Court on May 19, 2011, also refused to hear a case brought against a Member of Parliament in which Dr Atugugba was counsel.
Indeed, an opportunity for self-scrutiny had been squandered by the Judiciary, I thought.
Crusaders in new roles
Within two years of the incident, Dr Raymond Atugugba, a crusader against corruption within the judiciary, was appointed as Secretary to the President, a position he occupied until early 2015 when he was relieved of his duties, and he returned to the University of Ghana to resume his position as lecturer at the Faculty of Law.
It is, however, unclear if while in the presidency for two years or more, Dr Atugugba brought his anti-corruption principles to bear on any efforts to combat perceived graft within the presidency.
I mention this to bring into sharp focus, the story of known anti-corruption crusaders appointed within the Presidency, who appeared to have made little or no impact in mitigating the current perception of corruption within the Presidency. I refer also to one former anti-corruption activist of the Ghana Integrity Initiative, who was appointed as Presidential Advisor on Corruption. In his most recent public statement, Mr Daniel Batidam appears less enthusiastic in urging leadership to lead in the fight against corruption. The Presidential Advisor on corruption advocates that Systems, rather than the President, should lead the fight against corruption. He adds that it is undemocratic to expect the presidency to lead the anti-corruption drive. Mahama is not a judge, he says.
With such a lame excuse for the lack of anti-corruption initiatives within the presidency, one would indeed wonder the terms of reference in Batidam’s appointment letter, since his boss is not a judge.
But need I forget Buabeng Asamoah, formerly also of the Ghana Integrity Initiative, whose credentials may have led to his appointment within the presidency of the Kufuor Government, working in the office of the Vice President. His impact on anti-corruption within the Kufuor presidency, like others, remains unknown, so is the Office of Accountability that was established within that Presidency.
And one wonders why anti-corruption principles of crusaders suddenly evaporate into thin air in critical hours of need at the presidency.
Winding down
Winding down, let me advocate more action and lesser exhortation, indeed fewer excuses in the rhetoric of probity and accountability. Let presidents and leaders in general simply take initiatives submitting themselves and their offices to probity and accountability, before expecting any national compliance, since the buck stops with the leader. Responses such as ‘corruption is as old as Adam,’ ‘Provide evidence that I am corrupt,’ as well as ‘I cannot fight corruption alone,’ uttered by past and present presidents are signs of weak leadership.
Just take a cue from General Buhari, the President elect of Nigeria. Knowing the weaknesses in the Nigerian Constitution, in not requiring the open declaration of assets, he proactively declared his assets symbolically on Facebook while contesting the presidential elections. Since his victory last March, he has held on to his conviction, and listed the ‘public declaration of assets,’ as a prerequisite for one’s inclusion in his team of ministers.
He, therefore, decides to take the lead and expect the rest to follow, and serving notice to prospective lobbyists for ministerial positions. These are the dramatic initiatives one would expect if a leader wants to make an impact in combating corruption.
These initiatives should be urged on presidential candidates and presidencies in Ghana. In spite of weaknesses in the Constitution, simply go beyond the Constitution and declare your assets publicly, and urge your public officials to follow.
It is such bold anti-corruption moves, led by the president himself, that are hallmarks of a strong leadership.
The world of course knows the trail of deceit in assets declaration in parts of the sub region, where in declaring one’s assets, a minister may openly declare ownership of 20 houses, even if he had none. After a close scrutiny, it is realised that this is only a ploy.
The public official simply implies under his breath, that “in the next four years, I am going to work towards acquiring 20 houses.” That way, a declaration of 20 houses after four years, would simply imply ‘I have not acquired any more property since I was appointed.’ Observers call it the ‘anticipatory declaration of assets,’ meant to signal how corruptible a public official intends to be, in seeking to fulfill his material ambitions. It is a clear declaration of corrupt intentions, except that a public declaration of assets allows the public to freely intervene to volunteer information on true assets.
But let’s also count the cost of corruption in Ghana: The number of hospitals and clinics that could have been built without corruption and embezzlement; the hundreds of schools under trees we could eliminate along with anti-corruption moves in procurement practices; the extra kilometers of roads, that Roads and Highways could construct without expending huge sums of project moneys on a luxury BMW for a past minister.
Finally, in the light of a perennial load shedding during which school candidates prepare for exams in darkness, consider how much of this could have been mitigated if the amount of $1.8m million dollars, foolishly spent on 38 luxury vehicles by the then Energy Ministry, had been wisely expended on energy generation in 1200 communities as planned.
Corruption in public life today undermines the future of many generations of children. We are simply unleashing misery and terror on future generations. I count on leadership to lead the anti-corruption crusade by word and by deed.