Accra, Sept 28, GNA - Unlike the eight previous lectures in the monthly series of the Golden Jubilee Lecture, which saw the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC) main auditorium virtually full to capacity, the ninth on the topic "Corruption" on Thursday saw a virtually empty hall.
Ministers, Members of Parliament (MPs), the Judiciary, as well as members of the security services and the many personalities, who attended the previous ones in their numbers, were absent at the lecture delivered by Mr. Reginald Bannerman, a retired legal practitioner. The audience, numbering between 100 to 200 were mainly journalists, young persons and some few senior citizens as well as Members of the Council of State some traditional rulers and members of the diplomatic corps.
It was not out of place therefore when Rt. Rev. Francis W. B. Thompson, a retired Anglican Bishop and one of the Guests of Honour pointed out that "it is sad the politicians and judiciary who should have been here to hear this important lectures are not here."
Rt. Rev. Thompson noted that the lecture was primarily for politicians, members of the judiciary and the security services, who were perceived to be the main perpetrators of official corruption, saying, "they should have been present to hear the lecture for themselves".
Mr. Bannerman in his lecture outlined a the history of official corruption cases in pre and post independence Ghana and how they were handled.
He noted that since pre-independence Ghana till recently, official attitude towards corruption had been captured in the statement "we are looking into it", saying that, it was not surprising that the government had chosen to hide behind the statement, "we need proof" just to cover up their own failure to deliver on their zero tolerance for corruption. He said recent surveys in the country revealed that about 50 per cent of the citizens perceived judiciary decisions as influenced by corruption and bribery.
Mr. Bannerman said that, coupled with the reported cases of police corruption they undermine the legal system and serve as a disincentive to investors, adding that customs corruption also undermined the tourism drive of the country.
He noted that corruption had spread so wide in society that even at the secondary school level, school prefects were reported to be taking bribes from recalcitrant students to save them from punishment, saying that such a practice at that level was dangerous for the future of the country.
Mr. Bannerman admitted that Ghana lacked the technological capacity to gather hard evidence in a timely fashion and people usually shy away from coming forward to give evidence, usually making it difficult to prosecute perceived corrupt characters.
He said failed projects should be enough evidence that contracts were rigged or awarded wrongly and therefore could be a reason for official probes instead of waiting on whistle blowers to provide evidence.
Mr. Bannerman suggested that to deal with corruption effectively, state organisations should be seen to leading the way by posting anti-corruption campaign materials at their premises to serve as caution to themselves and to every person, who did business with them. "We must also educate our school children about the whistle blower and other relevant anti corruption and good governance laws and constantly publish such literature in the media to creative public awareness more aggressively," he said.
He said at the international level the African Union (AU) should employ a blacklisting mechanism to penalise perceived corrupt governments of member states and the World Bank and other multi national financiers should be enjoined to severe relations with governments blacklisted by the AU.
Mr. Bannerman also called for a more strict application of the OECD anti-corruption regulations to prevent corrupt corporate multi-nationals from exporting their corruption and also to prevent corrupt governments from "shipping" stolen money from developed countries into foreign banks.
Nii Tackie Tawiah III, Ga Mantse, another Guest of Honour mentioned the quest for land ownership as a major avenue for corruption in the country today.
He told the story of how he posed as an investor and found out some officials of the Lands Commission who were willing to sell lands belonging to other persons to him.
Bishop Charles Palmer Buckle, the Metropolitan Catholic Arch-Bishop of Accra, who presided, noted that though Ghana was endowed with wealth, the greed of a few people denied citizens of their fair share of the national cake.
"It is not true that corruption is a result of poverty because if it were so, how do we explain the indulgence of the big multi-national corporate organisations, corruption is out of greed," he argued. He said it was the responsibility of all to ensure that corruption was weeded out of the system, in that it had the potential to create poverty, destroy democracy and governance, promote crime and even terrorism.
"We need to put our people right if we are to experience a better Ghana after 50," he said.
