Advertisement

, Anas Aremeyaw Anas

Giver and receiver complicity

The feat of the undercover journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, took some of our wise men on the bench by surprise and would continually worry their minds as to what the verdict on them will be.

In my view, Anas is not reinventing the wheel by what he is doing. I feel this man seems to be a generational thinker on our laws and problems. He has an incumbent duty as a journalist to educate Ghanaians and not to persecute or prosecute anyone but name, shame and jail in line with his passion.

 

History

I share the same dream with him; however, he is aware of the adage that the law is an ass. Let us go back to the political history of Ghana.

I heard of a corruption case for the first time in the First Republic, when Dr Kwame Nkrumah, our first President, entered  Parliament to announce the beginning and the end of a corruption case involving one of his ministers of state. He stated that the “Savundra Case is dead and buried’’.

Before the Second Republic of Ghana, Dr K.A. Busia, who later became the Prime Minister of Ghana, was the Head of the National Centre for Civic Education (NCCE). Some of us remember how the eminent scholar tried his best to educate Ghanaians, specially public officers on corruption.

Dr Busia knew the complexity of the law on corruption though his effort was short-lived.

A leader emerged and touched on the moral fibre of Ghanaians without a change. Another leader came up to demand conclusive evidence as a prerequisite for proving a corruption case against someone.

Law

The law on corruption is based on morals, which has deep-seated cultural and historical underpinnings. We are aware of the royal protocol which is still being practised by our leaders all over the world. Let us look to religion for the meaning of corruption.

Biblical view

In the Bible, any kind of sin is regarded as corruption. therefore sin and crime have come to stay in the world and the only remedy is the enforcement of the law to reduce its prevalence.

In some cultures, the people frown on corruption while in others the people encourage it to the extent that it contaminates all, like a virus, spreading very fast across boundaries, becoming global in nature. The difficulty on the enforcement as we are aware of is the complicity of both the giver and the receiver.

Therefore, the efforts of Anas and his Tiger Eye PI are highly commendable. They should be encouraged to continue their good work to fulfil the noble dream. Nevertheless the need for moral education should not be left out by our clergy.

Connect With Us : 0242202447 | 0551484843 | 0266361755 | 059 199 7513 |