There is no doubt that corruption is real in public life; it is also an indisputable fact that there has been commitment towards reducing or eradicating it from our midst.
Ghana abounds with numerous laws in our statute books, coupled with codes of conduct in public life to guide us against corrupt practices, but the canker still persists, suggesting that implementation or application of our anti-graft laws still remains a major challenge.
It is in the light of this that a forum was held in Accra on Thursday, by the Ghana Integrity Initiative on “The cost of corruption in Ghana -deliberation for remedy’’.
And although the forum acknowledged that corruption is not only a country-specific menace, but a global problem, it agreed that it sucks five per cent of global Gross Domestic Product annually.
Corruption, we are told is an act of stealing directly from the pocket of the citizens. Engaging in corrupt practices, means that somebody is siphoning the resources that the citizens have contributed to the national kitty for personal gain.
Consequently, corruption stifles development. So therefore, there is the need to strengthen our national anti-graft institutions to nip the bud corrupt practices in public life to restore confidence of the people in the management of our resources.
We are duty bound to protect and encourage officials who are in the front line in the fight against corruption to be courageous to discharge their mandates for the good of the country.
We have noted with concern remarks by the Executive Director of the Ghana Integrity Initiative, Linda Ofori Kwafo, at Thursday’s forum that, “We are still grappling with corruption because leadership has failed to genuinely commit anti-corruption law and policies.”
The Ghanaian Times believes that leadership involves all of us. We are all leaders at many levels in society. So, therefore, we must all be responsible and to take the blame for the corrupt practices in society whether real or perceived.
There are many acts of omissions or commissions that we engage in in our daily in lives that make us susceptible to corruption.
We have to be transparent, honest and be accountable for our stewardship in every aspect of our lives to reflect leadership by example in tackling corruption.
There are certain corrupt practices that we have imbibed in our daily lives and have become a culture in public life that we see as normal, although it is not a good practice.
As a result, it is increasingly becoming difficult to draw the line between what is good and what is bad.
Indeed, a bad practice is what we engage in that is at variance with our conscience of taking good care of national property for the good of the generality of the people.
Fact is, we have endorsed a global agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development to create the society of prosperity in which ‘we leave no one behind”, and so we have to tackle corruption, because in our view corruption makes people to steal much of the resources for personal gain at the expense of good of the society.
In adding our voice to the popular view of making corruption a costly venture to engage in, we urge the public to play a key role in the fight by reporting shady deals for investigations and prosecutions.
