Let’s help stem corruption

Dishonest and illegal acts by which people abuse public office for private gain have been the bane in many countries.
In the so-called developing world, bribery, misuse of public funds and nepotism by people in positions of trust have deprived countries of projects that would have brought great relief to majority of their people.

That development has assumed very alarming proportions in Africa in recent times. A recent World Bank report indicates that Africa loses about $150 billion annually through corruption. The loss is equivalent to about 25 per cent of Africa’s Gross Domestic Product.

Ghana has had its fair share of corruption. Instances of corruption are too many to recount here. Indeed, in spite of the fact that Ghana has many anti-corruption institutions, corruption still abounds.

Corruption comes at a cost to all and, therefore, it should be everyone’s concern, since it has many implications for every single individual in the country. It discourages businesses from operating properly, thereby reducing the overall wealth in the country. It also reduces the amount of money available to pay workers and lowers the government’s capacity to provide social amenities.

Sadly, corruption has permeated every fabric of society to become an accepted norm of everyday life in Ghana.

Recent revelations of financial malfeasance at the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Authority (GYEEDA) shocked many a Ghanaian. Many have since advocated the scrapping of the entire programme, while some have called for the prosecution of all those involved in the alleged scandal.

Whichever way one sees it, it is important that something drastic is done to serve as a deterrent to all who may be involved in practices that turn the clock of progress backwards.

The Daily Graphic welcomes the assurances given by President John Mahama at the opening of the three-day conference of the African Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities in Accra yesterday.

The President said the government was determined to prosecute persons identified to have been involved in financial malfeasance in the GYEEDA report.

In the past, governments gave such assurances without doing much about the situation. We hope that this is not just ‘political talk’ and that the Attorney-General’s Department will go ahead and sanction any persons found to be involved in any wrongdoing as directed by the President.

The Daily Graphic will one day return to this subject.

As a nation, we need to strengthen our anti-corruption institutions to enable them to function effectively to prevent our country from being tagged as a corrupt nation.

We hope that the Freedom of Information Bill will be passed sooner than later to enable the media to have easy access to information which can be put in the public domain to serve as a warning to those who have tendencies to be corrupt to stay away from such practice.

Daily Graphic/Ghana