Ghana suffering from ostrich mentality – Rawlings booms at UDS

Former President Jerry John Rawlings has fired up Ghanaians to speak up against corruption wherever they find it.

He describes the tendency of the Ghanaians to keep quiet in the face of wrong as a plague - a “crippling ostrich mentality”.

Rawlings was speaking Saturday at a Special Congregation of the University for Development Studies to confer an honorary degree on him for pioneering efforts in establishing the university.

He said there is corruption in local government and “in the heart of government” and yet Ghanaians have not “developed the capacity to admit” it.

Asking rhetorically, he said “why is our capacity to speak the truth so poor that we let wrong pass un-challenged?”

Rawlings explained that silence is an endorsement of such “anti-developmental tendencies” such as corruption and a ‘get-rich quick’ attitude.

He said “admitting that there is a problem might expose the pathways for illegal wealth and the oppression of the people”.

“We can expose the cancer of corruption and apply heavy doses of chemotherapy to eliminate all the cancerous cells in our society and body politics”, he prescribed.

The former president continued that people are ridiculed for speaking up and that any such crusade is not easy.

Nonetheless it is necessary, he noted.

“I have tried extremely hard to confront this “Ostrich mentality” by speaking-up when the problem is occurring, not after it has occurred. This is not an easy task, it is a crusade that must be embarked upon – speak up,” Rawlings ‘boomed’.

The Mahama-led government has been consistently accused of laxity in its fight against corruption. Opposition forces point to a scandalous rot at the Ghana Youth and Entrepreneurial Agency (GYEEDA).

A demonstration, staged by the Progressive Peoples’ Party (PPP) last month accused the Mahama government of little action on a report that is recommending prosecution of officials cited in a GYEEDA report for corruption. Despite a presidential directive, reports in the media suggest, no action is being seen on its implementation.