Corruption in Ghana attributed to death of individual integrity

The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) has set up an Advocacy and Legal Advisory Center, as part of its drive to stamp out corruption in the Ghanaian society.

The Centre has the objective of assisting victims of and witnesses to corrupt practices to seek redress from the appropriate authorities, by calling toll-free number 080010025.

Executive Director, Vitus Azeem, who made the announcement, says the civil empowerment organization will by end of 2011 change its name to 'Transparency International Ghana', in conformity with other chapters of the leading international NGO devoted solely to curbing corruption worldwide.

He was in Kumasi to join the inauguration of the Integrity Club, a student movement against corruption, established under the auspices of the President of the Ghana Baptist University College (GBUC), Rev. Dr. Kojo Osei-Wusu.

Mr. Azeem spoke on the theme: “Fighting Corruption in Ghana for National Development: the Role of Educational Institutions”.

Corruption, he stated, could be described as a “crime against humanity”, because it involves the betrayal of public interest in exchange for a narrower benefit, which include the abuse of fundamental human rights and “denial of certain entitlements of some members of our society to the benefit of other”.

According to him, “corruption is a national problem requiring national concerted effort” to curb.

Mr. Azeem pointed to the need for adequate and enforceable legislative, institutional and systemic reforms to stem the tide of corruption.

“This should not only be at the national level but also at all institutional levels, including educational institutions. Transparency enhancing legislation and regulation are definitely essential to curb corruption, but such anti-corruption legislation and regulation must be enforceable and applicable to all and sundry.

“If we are committed to ensuring that corruption does not destroy the moral fabric of our society and in our institutions, we must show our commitment to this”, he emphasized.

Rev. Dr. Osei-Wusu observed that corruption is endemic in all sections of the Ghanaian society because “integrity is a very scarce commodity”.

It is his conviction that the country will need “a cultural ideological revolution to inculcate integrity into the Ghanaian body politic for any hope of corrupt free future for the country”.

He is advocating the promotion of the Integrity Clubs in all tertiary institutions and second cycle schools, cautioning that failure to instill such morals “the future of the nation is bound to be bleak as the formulation of national policies and their implementation would continue to lack integrity at the cost of accelerated national development”.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh/Luv Fm/Ghana