Ghana’s National Hall of Shame

Electoral Commission Chair, Charlotte Osei, and the entire ranks of the EC are hitting Ghana’s Media headlines with allegations and counter-allegations. Businessman Alfred Woyome is in court once more over the unlawfully received state funds unwilling to pay back in due course but looking for ways out of his financial misery.

Media, written or broadcasted, are a means of unveiling the issues for a Nation for the day news break or like Galamsey (illegal mining) for an ongoing period. Political Parties change powers and put blame for unlawful behaviors unto the outgone Administration refusing to accept corruption cases in their own ranks only to hope once no more in power to cover up, such cases will not be hitting the news on Media.

As much as today when headlines are crying into the ears, minds and hearts of citizen, tomorrow the information given is gone or only in rudimentary existence while the underlining problem still lingers on and destroys the society. Donor countries and Loan Lenders hear news of corruption on an ad-hoc basis giving a positive or negative feeling about a country while facts are needed to make correct judgements and hold a clear picture based on evidence against a Nation and position the donor countries into the right position how best to deal with such Nations. Human capacity is limited to store these days hundreds of information.

Societies pride them of positive achievements in culture and other society occurrences by establishing ‘Hall of Fame’ and Museums for culture, tradition, famous citizens and alike as a means to highlight positive sides of what mankind is capable to bring to light and encourage others to follow and even exceed beyond what has been accomplished. This places work as an educational means for younger generations to see the better side of human life and for the older generation to remember the good walks of life they had seen during their life-time and to encourage their kids to stay in line of positive achievements.

What applies to positive achievements in a society must equally or even more so apply to negative aspects of a society like the cancer of corruption. For that reason it is an important intervention to establish a ‘National Hall of Shame’ as a national collective reminder and memory for all citizens of a country and outside Nations as an effective instrument to fight corruption. This idea is not new, has been asked for many times in the past. The question arises, why in countries like Ghana and others such demand is not heard and implemented. Analyzing this question leads to the answer that these developing countries have no genuine interest to fight corruption effectively as all people involved in the end benefit from stealing national assets over and over again once in power; and Donor countries keep their eyes, minds and ears closed in the attempt to manage the misery.

Singapore after World War II was a country full of problems such as Mafia and corruption. In a few years Mr. Lee, the late President, had managed to eradicate the problem and make the country strong and beneficial to its citizens. What is possible in one country, what stops other countries to learn from a positive example and implement the same measures to fight a serious problem? Nothing, unless the Elite in Africa is honest and wise. White should Whites be asked to give financial handouts when African countries are in its core mandate able to solve all their problems by themselves.

When they cannot solve their own challenges but they persist continuously, someone must come to do the job before the Black Man comes to Europe in its numbers (today we see only a small problem) and destroys European societies with the White Man pushing back and racial uprising to be seen in Europe and beyond. A problem must be solved where it occurs and not wrapped into nice words.

Author: Dipl.-Pol. Karl-Heinz Heerde, Sakumono, Tema West, Ghana, phone +233(0)265078287, [email protected] , 25.07.2017