By Norbert Ambenne
The basic life principle known as integrity appears to have lost its meaning in the Ghanaian society. As I read the July 28, 2013 issue of the Daily Graphic I noted that out of the four front page stories reported, three were on various acts of dishonesty:• “Two Fake Doctors Arrested”
• “Accountant in Police Grip for ‘Chopping’ GHc174,000”.
• “Malpractices at 2013 BECE, WAEC Probes Invigilators, Candidates”.
Such reports are so common these days that nobody seems to pay any attention. But contrary to what we may think, no individual or society can prosper through dishonest behaviour.
It will catch up with you and destroy you somewhere along the line. Examples abound from the recent world financial crisis.
What should be of most concern to well-meaning Ghanaians from the Daily Graphic report is the third story. Introducing our youth to dishonest behaviour so early in their lives is certain to perpetuate the vice. For this reason the adults or Invigilators involved must be severely, punished, if found culpable.
Dishonesty is Pervasive
Sometime last year I gave a talk on Integrity to a youth group in my Church. I commenced the talk by asking them what percentage of adult Ghanaians they considered to be essentially honest in their behaviour.
Their answers ranged from five – 35 per cent. What this means is that our youth recognise that dishonesty is pervasive in our society. When you have a majority of your citizens behaving in a certain way, it becomes an accepted norm of social behaviour.
I shudder to think that dishonesty has become an accepted norm of behaviour because then we would be a society doomed to failure.
Culture of Impunity
To reinforce the belief that dishonesty is an accepted norm of behaviour, there are hardly any sanctions applied to those caught in the vice.
The public accounts reports are an example. With all the rot unearthed over the years I am not aware of stolen public moneys being retrieved and the culprits thrown in jail.
The result is that more public officers join the looting spree because they know they can get away with it.
Singapore got rid of corruption by prescribing severe sanctions. The punishment for intensive corruption was death.
The death penalty may have been an overkill but it did the trick. Singapore is currently one of the most graft free societies in the world.
However, simply by recovering the loot plus a minimum of 25 years in the cooler would be sufficient to deter even the most hardened offender.
Breaking the cycle of dishonesty
To successfully break the dishonesty cycle, we must prevent the youth from believing that dishonesty is an accepted norm of behaviour.
We can achieve this by teaching the Basic Life Principles at all levels of our educational system. These Principles, to remind readers, are: Ethics, Integrity, Responsibility, Respect for Laws and Rules, Respect for the Rights of Other Citizens, Work Loving, Strive for Saving and Investment, Will of Super Action and Punctuality.
I also believe that it would be beneficial for all public officials to be given annual refresher courses in these principles until our society returns to normal.
The Influence of Churches
Ghanaians love to go to church. Our motives for doing so might differ but we all like to listen to whoever is before the pulpit.
This is where the churches could be powerful attitude changers by preaching the need to practise the basic life principles. After all most of these principles can be found in biblical teachings.
Some church leaders, such as Pastor Mensah Otabil, have done so admirably. Unfortunately, the motives of some pastors are at variance with these principles.
Many of them, especially those from the newer churches are actively aiding in the propagation of dishonest behaviour by preaching the gospel of prosperity.
In these churches, people of wealth can be seen seated in the front pews simply because of the quantum of donations they can make to the church. How they acquired their wealth does not seem to matter.
As a result, many believers, especially the youth, now think it is all right to acquire wealth by whatever means since even the churches condone it.
The rewards of integrity
The rewards for integrity far outweigh the short term benefits of dishonesty. I read an article on the Internet sometime in June 2013 narrating the story of a woman in the U.S. who inadvertently emptied her purse of coins along with her engagement ring into the solicitation bowl of a homeless man.
When she could not trace the precious ring a couple of days later she returned to the homeless man’s spot in the desperate hope that she could recover it. Finding the ring was crucial to keeping her relationship.
Fortunately, the homeless man was at the spot and the good news was that he still had the ring which he returned to her.
The woman was so overwhelmed that she emptied her purse of all the money she had and gave it to him.
She also posted her story on the Internet and the last time I read the story again, readers had donated nearly $100,000 to the homeless man. He had emerged out of poverty from this single act of honesty!
Earlier he had sent the ring to a jeweler who confirmed that it was a diamond ring and offered him $1,000 for it.
However, this homeless man was not sure that the woman really meant to give away the ring so he decided to hold it a little longer in case she returned for it. That decision had multiplied his reward a hundred fold.
How many of us in this country would have returned the ring?
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