Are You Sceptical About Akufo-Addo’s Pledge To Fight Corruption?

Back in March 2015 Ghana’s Catholic Bishops described bribery and corruption as the ‘two evils ‘that are wrecking every fabric of the Ghanaian society. No doubt about that bribery and corruption if you like are defining us as a people—good or bad, developed or developing, successful or a failed state.

At the time former President John Mahama who’d been elected into office two years following the demise of president Mills (the second term of the NDC) said he was the key to defeating corruption in Ghana but his fight against the canker came to zilch.

In fact the Fourth Republic had already seen four pledges gone a begging. The fifth and the latest one was made by President Akufo-Addo on Monday at the Chief Executives Officers’ Summit in Accra. His predecessors--presidents Rawlings, Kufuor, Mills and Mahama had all made pledges during their respective tenures to bring corruption onto her knees. All of them identified bribery and corruption as the bane of Ghana’s progress. And all of them fought it.

I remember the term willfully causing financial loss to the state was applied in the 2000’s during Kufour’s regime which saw former ministers of state in the NDC previous government imprisoned. That clause had since been criticised and viewed as biased by a section of the Ghanaian populace. Somewhere in December 2016 a former head of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) Tsatsu Tsikata said the term was skewed.

“In my view willfully causing financial loss to the state has always been applied for political gains as against the national interest. If this persists it will tend to discourage and frighten officials from giving out their best while in office, with the fear of being persecuted,” he said.

Has Ghana been able to exorcise the two demons yet?

No they’re still with us, possibly t more than emboldened--tormenting the nation.

The question is why are we at the same spot or retrogressing?

To many Ghanaians fighting corruption is like flogging a dead horse. What do you get apparently no result (s). However most people hold the view that the canker can be dealt with if a more concerted effort is injected into the crusade, allow transparency and making the two glamorised evils unattractive.

Can we do that?
Well, it seems there’s going to be a new or an exciting anti-corruption initiative here. But before we touch on the juicy part of the president’s novelty idea let’s look at two or three of the statements attributed to him (in quotes) by the local media.

Mr. Akufo-Addo said: “The scale and level of “tolerated corruption” under the fourth republic and especially in recent times “needs to be arrested immediately.”

There’s no newness about that statement, I can state emphatically. As matter of fact each of the former presidents preached same or similar sermon (The 4 Johns invoked GH chapter 4: 192 through to 2016). Also they recognised the enormity of the problem but they couldn’t kill the bull.

He said as president, he “will not sing the chorus of the problem without addressing it.”

Equally the former presidents addressed the problem. They talked about the problem but they diddled Ghanaians out of that pledge to fight corruption.

“I’m not naïve about the enormity of the problem and how that continues to undermine efforts of development. We need to fight corruption collectively and the joint efforts of the captains of business will be most welcome,” adding: “We need all hands on deck to fight corruption because corruption fundamentally is the giver and the taker – both are guilty.”

That paragraph is beautifully crafted. However it isn’t different from the rest. Truth of the matter is Ghanaians have heard those expressions such as ‘all hands on deck’ time and again. Indeed we’ve heard some say corruption will be a thing of the past. Ironically, you and I know that we’re living it. We lived with it yesterday and we might live with it tomorrow, if we don’t change the mindset.

But here’s the nugget. This is what I consider to be first of its kind--the creation of a bureau at the presidency to deal with bribery and corruption.

In a speech read on his behalf by Senior Minister Yaw Osafo Maafo, the president said he would create an office at the presidency where business people can directly report corrupt state officials whose names will, in turn, be published in the dailies along with whatever punitive actions were being taken against them. That’s a novelty. I haven’t heard it anywhere in the past regimes.

“I will establish a Business Reporting Bureau at which corrupt activities of staff and officers of State Owned Enterprises, regulatory institutions, revenue agencies and the public and civil service will be reported to. We need to go about this in a very transparent manner with time so that together we can fight corruption,” Mr. Akufo-Addo said.

Seriously I think we need this kind of bullets to kill the two demons. The good results might take long but we will get there.

That leads me to my next question: Who will police the police?

Again it seems the president has an answer for me. According to him complaints received will not be swept under the carpet. “To ensure that action is taken against persons reported and that heads of these institutions are held accountable, I’ll cause to be published, on quarterly basis or in certain periods, all complaints and steps that are being taken in respect of these persons.”

The President said his office is open to suggestions from the business community with regard to the establishment of the Business Reporting Bureau so as to uproot corruption. “I encourage ideas on making this proposal more feasible and effective being submitted to my office through an avenue to be announced by the middle of June, latest by July.”

‘I will establish a Business Reporting Bureau at which corrupt activities of staff and officers of State Owned Enterprises. Regulatory institutions, revenue agencies, and the public as well as civil service will be reported to. We need to god about this in a very transparent manner with time so that together we can fight corruption.”

Across the world corruption has forced many investors to quit doing business. Reuters, an international news agency headquartered in London England reported on Monday 15 March2010 that ‘extortion by corrupt officials in Russia has got so bad that some western multinationals are considering pulling out altogether”

Corruption isn’t an African disease or problem. But African governments lack the political will to fight the canker. That explains why we are where we are. Corruption is in the West, the Far East and Oceania. Corruption can be found in South America, the Caribbean and the Middle East.