Joseph Adam Braimah
For most public servants, there is often a sense of duty, responsibility, and accountability to the people they primarily serve, the public.
The position of public servants requires integrity, commitment, and dedication while upholding key ethics and values above personal gain.
However, in 1953, the first northerner to be appointed as a Minister in Ghana resigned from his position in the government of the Gold Coast.
Known as Joseph Adam Braimah, the former Member of Parliament resigned after confessing he had accepted a £2,000 bribe from Aksor Kasardjian, an Armenian contractor in the north, while serving as Minister of Communication and Works.
According to details shared in a piece written by Sydney Casely-Hayford in 2016, J.A. Braimah’s admission was both novel and openly disgraceful as he was held in very high esteem at the time.
At the time of the incident, the Gold Coast Assembly was rife with rumors of bribery and corruption, with many government ministers accused of accepting bribes for personal or political gain.
J.A. Braimah’s admission, despite the associated disgrace, was deemed a bold and noble step, although the situation is nowhere near what is being experienced today in Ghana.
During that time, Dr. Nkrumah’s Convention Peoples Party had been invited by the colonial rulers to form a new government after the general elections they had resoundingly won.
However, just two years into Nkrumah’s regime as prime minister, corruption reared its head with accusations flying everywhere.
This prompted the setting up of the Korsah Commission of Inquiry, which was to provide checks and balances to wrongdoing related to public finances.
This inquiry, according to Sydney Casely-Hayford, was triggered by what Braimah alleged was a growing problem in the country.
“I have heard rumors of bribery and corruption, and I feel that some of the allegations deserve to be investigated. I felt I had a special mission laid upon me to provide an opportunity for the rumors and allegations to be investigated,” Braimah is said to have told the Assembly.
Meanwhile, some 67 years later post independence, incidents and acts of corruption still dominate Ghana’s public sector, prompting calls for various governments to address the menace critically once and for all.
MA/EK
