That Bribery and Extortion is so Commonplace In Ghana Should Bother Everyone

I am so disgusted with the way things work in Ghana. I read an article recently, that explained things to me which helped a bit. The article was written about the notion that bribery is part and parcel of the Ghana economy. Its now customary and quite common even in government offices. Without it not much would get done as I understand things.

Living here in the United States that was an eye opener to me. Sure Americans tip waiters and waitresses in restaurants, bellboys, car hops, and sky captains. What we don't do is fold money into the hands of government workers when submitting forms and paperwork directly to government offices. In the west we establish government offices for everyone to use without any expectation of paying off the clerk or administrator in every government office we must use. That's an important distinction for the citizens of Ghana to consider.

If you work and pay taxes and are an otherwise law abiding citizen, you deserve the services of all the government because they work for you. That it doesn't work that way is a sad situation. The undocumented flow of money into the personal pockets of government workers virtually assures perpetual corruption. Who sets that price? Who do you go to when a dispute arises? There is no recourse of course and that is just plain wrong when you are dealing with your government. It is technically more akin to extortion. That's when you refuse to act as you should unless you are compensated.

Routine bribery and extortion is really easy to stop and discourage. First, announce it is to cease immediately under the penalty of severe punishment. Secondly, actively seek compliance by sending infiltrators regularly to all the various agencies to stop those that refuse to do their jobs without a bribe. Lastly, set up some toll free hotlines to report it when you are victimized or witness it.

I am a proponent of such an approach after being a victim of if myself. Yes, this type of corruption reaches way outside of Ghana impacting business and families around the world. In my case, I was working with a local Diplomat who quite literally took many tens of thousands of dollars from me in order to send me a family inheritance that I was assigned as beneficiary. I got involved in this to help my wife come to the United States. The last straw that killed any chance of either happening was the declaration of some 'expired' documents that had to be paid for a second time. Does that make any sense to anyone, beyond a repeat money grab by just another corrupt government office?

The operation of government offices needs to be the standard for ethical and non-corrupt practices for all citizens. There's corruption in politics too, but I still would recommend voting for those that promise to change this situation. He/she ought to get a lot of votes. Oops, almost forgot to ask. Is voting free?