Corruption in the public sector of Ghana


            Corruption has become day-to-day issue as years went by. The public blamed this rotten system in the government for the poverty that it experiences for centuries. It had not been invented, it had not been discovered, but it was made by those who are living with greed. People say that once you are in the position where you got the control for the power, it is so hard for you to stop from creating a bridge that would connect you from wealth to your own treasure box.


            That is an awful excuse for those who are in the position. They are so greedy that they have been blinded by the things that they are controlling at the time. They haven’t seen the people who are already in cliff of starvation and dying because of poverty. While, the privileged ones remain in the position and are drowning themselves with the treasures that they had stolen from the public.


            This is not a secret to everyone anymore. Corruption starts in the littlest ways that we do not know. When we were a kid, corruption exists. When our parents ask us to buy something from the store, we keep the change without telling them that there still is some money left. Therefore, corruption starts in that very early stage. And, without proper discipline, that continues in a very severe manner.


            Ghana is well-off in terms of natural resources and its education system. Having gold, timber, industrial diamonds, bauxite, manganese, fish, rubber, hydropower, petroleum, silver, salt, and limestone all in one country is indeed a blessing. But despite being rich in natural resources, and gifted with a good education system and well-organized civil service, Ghana is a country which is a victim to corruption and mismanagement soon after it’s achieved its independence in 1957 (BBC, 2011). It has been a model country in Africa for its political and economical reform. But some leaders have been deposed from their position due to corruption.


            Until the mid 1990’s, corruption was generally regarded as a criminal offense. But, the international development community could not be hands-on in corruption since it has gone endemic, and it could not link with partner countries given the norm that confronting corruption was a matter of municipal law and was therefore, outside the jurisdiction of international development agencies. Currently however, there is already a change regarding the outlook towards corruption and its control. Transparency International (TI) led the reorganization with a strategy of increasing awareness of the public about tackling corruption. It has been presented to the public as a developmental issue and TI also suggested that a partnership of different sectors of the society is of a great help. Alongside, The World Bank Group (The Bank) enhanced the TI approach with the concept of Action Planning where there is a prioritized array of strategic reform options sequenced to mainstream anti-corruption measures throughout a country’s governance system (Asamoa, 2003). Consequently, the scope for the fight against corruption has widened that it is already backed by the large sectors of the society.


            But, that concept just remained as an plan, and it was never put into action. There is always a lack of cooperation and participation from the large sectors of the society that want to help in the fight against corruption. Or, should we say that corruption had already grown up into the bones of the society that it is very much difficult to remove? Yes, it is. Whether it is in Ghana or any other country (especially in the third world countries), corruption is like an endemic disease that is so hard to eradicate. Someday, it may seem to have been healed but, all the scars are never gone. The remains of the crime of corruption will always remain in the heart of the society.


            Of all the countries, we should have noticed that those which are in the bottom level in terms of economics are the countries which are also suffering from the disease of corruption. These two are always going side by side, where there is corruption lies poverty. Which started which? Did corruption start poverty or did poverty start corruption? In the case of Ghana, it is somehow easier to determine.


Ghana had been under the British colony for several years until 1957. The Europeans came in Ghana first, to trade gold and in the latter period, to trade slaves. It was such a misfortune and bad experience for the people of Ghana. That experience may have caused them not to believe in the leaders, and for the leaders to think that “yes, it’s my turn this time…we had suffered a lot, now is our turn to get what we were supposed to be having for a long time.” Ghana is endowed with a lot of natural resources and it had been a way for the colonists to get interested in conquering their land, and even its people. Ghana had never become poor with the resources but, the people are. So, its corruption which made the less fortunate ones in that country suffer. They suffer because they don’t possess the power that the leaders have. The blessings that their country offers don’t reach the oppressed. Stroke of luck is blocked only up to the upper class of the society.


When will a piece of good fortune shower the ones in the lower portion of the society? Maybe it’ll happen when corruption ends. When will it end? Certainly, it’s when the people got to choose the competent and sincere leaders. To when will that happen? Let time be the judge and the stroke of fate. The fight against corruption is not a fight of an individual, it is but a fight of an entire nation which seeks for a change.


 


References:


BBC, 2011. Ghana country profile. BBC News, [online] last updated 19 April 2011. Available at: <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/country_profiles/1023355.stm>. [Accessed 04 June 2011]


CIA, 2011. The World Factbook. [online] last updated 26 May 2011. Available at: <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gh.html>[Accessed 04 June 2011]


Asamoa, Y. B., 2003. National Strategies for Combating Corruption; The Ghana Experience. [pdf] Available at: < http://www.u4.no/helpdesk/helpdesk/queries/queryattach/q42NatStratGhanaExperience.pdf>.[Accessed 04 June 2011]



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