The Fight Against Corruption Has Not Yet Begun

Ghana heard a confident and wide-ranging State of the Nation Address. And to be fair, President Mahama’s new administration has earned commendation in many areas. On balance, the government’s performance so far deserves an 80% positive score. But the remaining 20% — the fight against corruption — is not merely unsatisfactory. It is dangerously inadequate.

The President was right to caution against a “Buga Buga” approach to accountability. No serious democracy should embrace military-style justice. But those of us demanding action are not calling for persecution. We are calling for transparency — the oxygen of any credible anti-corruption effort.

So when the President tells the nation that EOCO has retrieved millions of cedis, the natural question is: From whom? For what? Under what circumstances?

A democracy cannot fight corruption in the shadows. Quietly returning stolen public funds behind closed doors does not absolve the perpetrators. It does not restore public trust. And it certainly does not prevent future wrongdoing.

In every serious jurisdiction, anti-corruption work is conducted with public visibility. Citizens are informed — not of the intimate details of interrogations — but of the essential facts:

• who has been invited or arrested,
• who is being questioned and for what,
• who has been charged or cleared,
• who is negotiating plea deals, and
• who insists on defending themselves in court.

This is not harassment. It is accountability.

Recent public accusations by Hon. Isaac Adongo and Hon. Ato Forson — alleging that former President Akufo-Addo oversaw the misappropriation of billions — cannot be brushed aside. These are not small sums. These are nation-shaping amounts. And they join a long list of unresolved scandals involving hundreds of millions in public resources.

If no one is above the law, then former officials must be invited — lawfully and respectfully — to answer questions. Ghana cannot build a credible future on selective silence.

The President’s experience should remind him that credibility matters. A person who unlawfully amasses millions and quietly returns them cannot re-emerge in public life as a “fit and proper person.” The public has a right to know who violated their trust, and how justice is being pursued.

This government has shown promise. It has shown competence. It has shown ambition. But on corruption — the issue that determines the moral foundation of governance — the real fight has not yet started.

Ghanaians are not asking for vengeance. We are asking for sunlight.

And sunlight, Mr. President, is the one thing your anti-corruption agenda has not yet allowed to shine.