Moral decadence: most of us are guilty

There is a saying that: an insolent dog should not dare misbehave at the Bolga Market. Dog meat is a delicacy of our friends in that part of the country; so, a dog going about in the Bolga Market dancing "Azonto" will have itself to blame.

Folks, as our children and grandchildren write their 2022 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), I wish to draw an anology between a dog at the Bolga Market and leakages of BECE papers especially in Religious and Moral Education. All examination leakages must be condemned in no uncertain terms, but a leakage in a Religious and Moral Education examination paper for teenagers as have been happening in this country, is Haram! Religious and Moral Education paper paa? Shake my head. That is a conclusive proof of how fast moral profligate is ravaging our society today.

I believe the culprits behind these leakages are motivated by one thing -- huge financial reward. And I have been wondering how many of these beneficiary teenagers would be able to raise such amounts of money, but let's not look far. Parents, uncles, aunties, etc., must be behind these pestiferous absurdity. Shameful!

There have been reports from around the country that invigilators have been taking money from candidates of BECE with the promise to help them to cheat! In one incident, it was alleged that money was taken from each school child daily: and poor candidates from some villages were seen begging for money to buy food after their money had been taken by these unscrupulous invigilators. What nonsense is that! Most of the culprits are alleged to be teachers who earn salaries, and are going to be remunerated for invigilating.

The moral foundation of our country is on the verge of collapsing to the disadvantage of the poor; for instance the trotro fare from Ofankor Barrier to Accra Central is about GHC5.50. During rush hours, no trotro goes directly to Accra. They load to Kwame Nkrumah Circle and collect a fare of GHC4.00P; as the vehicle approaches Circle, a driver's mate shouts: "Accra, Accra, Accra", and collects another GHC3.50 from Circle to Accra. In this case the poor Ghanaian who has budgeted for GHC5.50 ends up paying GHC7.50

A farmer brings his or her perishable food stuffs from let's say the Brong Region to Accra; the Market Queen knowing very well that the produce will go bad by the next day, and that the poor farmer is at her mercy, decides to pay an unrealistic price for the food stuffs, sometimes buying on credit to the detriment of the underprivileged farmer.

It is also not unusual to see civil servants of institutions using paper and printers in their offices to print documents for their private businesses.

Some also spend hours on end engaging their friends on needless conversations on office phones. The cumulative effect of such practices is that more money is wasted on logistics and bills, creating shortfalls in income meant for salaries and allowances of workers.

The reversal of this trend would do us a lot of good and create the Better Ghana we are all yearning for.

Anthony Obeng Afrane