Good Governance Africa (GGA), as an independent and non-partisan research organisation that works to improve government performance in Africa, we join other civil society organisations in congratulating Anas Aremeyaw Anas on his recent expose on judicial corruption in the country.
The GGA also wishes to congratulate President John Dramani Mahama and Her Ladyship, Chief Justice, Theodora Georgina Wood for their respective actions to speedily and conclusively deal with the matter, so as to help restore credibility to Ghana’s judicial system, long plagued by a perception of prevalent corruption.
While this may represent the pinnacle of corruption, earlier investigative works by Anas reveal the pervasiveness of the canker across the entire strata of Ghanaian society.
It cannot be overemphasised that corruption makes society uneconomic and unsafe, with the poor being the most hurt.
The poorest of the poor are those who cannot pay bribes for public services. They are largely the victims of ferry and other avoidable accidents due to poor enforcement of safety regulations. It is from them that relief goods are diverted in times of disasters such as floods. They are the recipients of the poorest health and education services.
Others also caught in the vulnerability bracket, but with some advantage, cut corners or shave the top to make an extra cedi; the filling station attendant pumping in less fuel than the customer pays for; the market woman stuffing the buyer’s basket with poor quality products even though she’s paid premium price for top quality products.
But as a people, do we recognise that these are all forms of corruption and these are the vices on which we are building our lives?
GGA believes that the lack of transparency, an important component of good governance, breeds corruption that permeates every level of society and therefore, when processes and procedures are clearly laid down and enforced, it would help minimize corruption.
We also believe that Ghana is currently at that inflection point where we should be asking ourselves; “how do we, collectively as a nation, promote good governance in every aspect of our daily experience; how do we build and strengthen our institutions and personnel to achieve this objective?”
In jurisdictions where we do not hear of rampant cases of corruption, it is not because people there are naturally incorruptible but because the environment makes it unattractive, due to strict adherence to laid down rules and regulations.
It, therefore, is about time that the practise of good governance is inculcated in our daily lives right from our childhood. Basic schools curricula should cover good governance just like religion and moral studies, among others.
This way, it becomes a knowledge that is totally part of our moral fabric. And if we should we grow up to find ourselves in responsible positions, it will then be less difficult to do right even in challenging situations.
We believe Codes of Ethics should be developed for all institutions, be it government, civil society, and private businesses and must be strictly enforced and adhered to. It is not enough to say rules and regulations exist if we do not ensure their enforcement.
This is because, these are binding principles of engagement and if all businesses or professional bodies will abide by their respective rules of engagement, the private sector, which is held as the supply side of corruption eventually, will be less impulsive to bribe state officials, even if approached.
Additionally, we believe, prompt deliveries of budgetary allocations to vital institutions of State should be made, to ensure they also promptly deliver on their mandates so as to help eliminate some bottlenecks that provide opportunity for corruption.
Good Governance Africa (West Africa Centre) is all for the promotion of good governance in Ghana and West Africa, in order to make vices such as bribery and corruption unattractive. We are looking to partner all the different institutions to bring governance structure in Ghana to the fore.
