Confused communication on corruption

We are certainly a confused nation when it comes to corruption. Presidential advisor on Curruption and Governance, Daniel Batidam, stunned all reasonable Ghanaians when he opined that we expect too much from government when it comes to corruption and governance. He said, " Well, it is easy to say anybody is corrupt... when it comes to prosecution that is where I think that sometimes we are expecting too much from the Presidency or the executive arm of government in general". Really, Sir?

Is it expecting too much to ask that when customs officers are caught on tape taking bribes, they should be prosecuted and sentenced like ordinary people who steal yam and cassava?

Is it expecting too much to ask that when a man swindles our country of millions of Ghana cedis, with the blatant connivance of those sworn to protect the public, the swindler and his accomplices receive justice?

Is it expecting too much that when the very judges sworn to actualize our motto, "FREEDOM AND JUSTICE " are caught on tape receiving bribes, they face swift and certain justice?

If the President is wondering why despite his declared goal of tackling corruption, he will never be mentioned in the same sentence as Buhari and Magufuli, the answer lies with his advisors and the perceptions they create.

Of course, as usual, in the discussion of a national issue, there are, on both sides, disgusting choruses of, at best double standards and at worst insincerity. Remember when President Kufuor asked for evidence from those accusing his officials of corruption? If you know anyone who defended Kufuor then and is outraged now at the Mahama regime's corruption, call them out for hypocrisy. In the same vein, if you know anyone who condemned Kufuor but is defending Mahama, do your duty and call them out.

The venerable Elizabeth Ohene has speculated that if only we called corruption thieving or something more basic we would be more successful fighting it. I beg to differ. Nudity is involved in both medicine and pornography but no sensible person confuses the two. We know what corruption is when we see it. It is this academic obfuscation on corruption that would make a Minister who observed a policeman taking a bribe set up a committee to investigate the allegation that the policeman was taking a bribe and make Presidents ask for evidence when everyone on the street with commonsense knows the corrupt officials. To hell with stupid rule of law!!

The politicians have figured us out. As long as half of us will defend the corrupt because of party loyalty, the corrupt will thrive.

Everyone in Ghana knows that corruption should bring down the NDC but it will not because those who should make it a defining issue are themselves compromised. When Adu Asare hypocritically calls Nana Addo out on corruption, he strikes a cord because those who seek equity must have clean hands. The NPP that has had difficulty dealing with the illegal activation of secret accounts and misappropriation cannot take the moral high ground against the NDC on corruption. And that, my fellow Ghanaians, is a Damn shame!!

God bless you all.

Arthur K