The influence sellers
The Fantes of Ghana have a warning. “Efefee fun n’enyiwase a ihu saman” to wit, that if you go peering too close into the face of a corpse, you will see a ghost.
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Some translators insist that it is not “saman” (ghost) but “nsaaman” (maggots).
The proverb has been haunting me over the past 28 hours when I decided to use this medium of newsprint and ink to offer a few tips to President Akufo Addo on how to recognise corruption before that bad egg starts walking. I ask myself: am I not getting too obsessed with the fear that even he, Nana, may not succeed in taming corruption? Am I not misinterpreting every single move of people in power and people close to power?
Of the two, the deadliest are the men and women close to power.
My over-sensitive antennae are like those of a cockroach or the whiskers of a rat: they sense corruption from a mile off. They have served me well in every regime in Ghana since Acheampong (National Redemption Council).
Less than 24 hours after President Akufo Addo announced his first batch of ministers-designate, the husband of one of the female appointees started receiving phone calls. They were from friends some of whom he had not heard from since 2008. These Ghanaians, with eyes on the spoils of office, have located his potential position of advantage and have begun their move. One of them was proposing lunch at Kempisky or Labadi Beach Hotel.
Within the civil/public service, men and women in search of favour have done their permutations and come to know which of the staff “know” the in-coming sector minister. Suddenly, these staff are receiving homage and obeisance from especially senior colleagues (Directors). A friend in one of the ministries says a certain staff has been located as a classmate of the incoming minister. This staff, in less than two weeks, has developed a swag in his gait.
Some husbands and wives do not see why the change in status of their spouses should make any difference to their lives. Thank God for the likes of these, but they are the rare breed.
In our type of society, it is not even the wives and husbands who wield the real power: it is the nephews and nieces of the spouses; it is the classmates and friends of the classmates. We live in a society which has brought us up to believe in the power of association.
Unknown to the politician whose party who has just won power, these nephews and classmates have started receiving calls from contractors and businessmen eyeing some lucrative areas of investments or juicy contracts, and CEOs who hope that a connection here and there can save their job.
I disagreed with elements in society who withstood Prudential Bank when it gave a facility to the son of then President Kufuor. The bank’s case was simple – and it made sense: that they had dealt with the businessman in question long before his father became a President, and that the credit facility to put up a tourist facility was appraised on the basis of the bank’s ultimate interest not as a favour to a President’s son. It made sense to me that the bank was owned by shareholders and it was likely that some of them were not exactly NPP sympathisers or people who wished President Kufuor well.
I still think the bank’s case made sense. A number of years down the line, however, I have shifted slightly in opinions. I think that this country should go by what learned friends of the legal profession insist on once a case starts in court, that justice must not only be done but must be MANIFESTLY seen to be done.
We need a convention in this country - nay, a law - that forbids brothers and sisters, wives and husbands of the President of the Republic from benefiting from sole-sourced state contracts, even if the contracts go without financial benefits such as the dredging of the Odaw.
Until our society grows to the point where the structures and mechanisms are developed to eliminate fraud, favouritisms, nepotism and patronage as and when they surface, Ghana should run its affairs on the lines of the legal profession where litigant in a case in court can cite relationship between his/her opponent and the trial judge as a reason for praying that the judge be replaced or should recuse himself/herself.
Ghana should come up with a law that forbids contractors from gifting Presidents, Vice-Presidents, Ministers of State and party executives with anything. This avoids the situation where a contractor can legitimately earn the praise of a President for a good work done, especially in a climate where the contract – if it is a road – can easily erode in quality from the rains in fewer than expected years.
If such conventions and laws are not possible, I propose a code of conduct, put together by a coalition of think-tank institutions and approved by Parliament that enjoins Presidents and Vice-Presidents of Ghana to openly acknowledge all gifts, including even handkerchiefs or the nib of a fountain pen, especially when they come from contractors - and the gifts lodged with the state.
Between “connections” and corruption there are many causal connections.
Whom do we blame when acquiring wealth without question becomes a norm and nobody (except the very poor) gets punished for embezzlement, thievery and corruption?
