Leave Kwame Peprah out of the Mabey Equation.

By Ato Aidoo

Revelations by UK construction firm, Mabey & Johnson on its covert practices in Ghana and other countries, justifies the perception of corruption associated with government business in the global economy.

Corruption is not government-specific, and uprooting it through every means possible should occupy the attention of every country, but we have to exercise extra care not to dent the image of every individual who decides to render service in a government position of trust.

Trust in George Sipa Yankey wavers, guided by a statement he made once upon a time, that a judgment passed in court against him, was written at the seat of government. Yankey could not support this claim with any evidence. However, his competence is not in doubt.

In Ghana, like any other country, spreading falsehood is a full-time vocation, and Yankey, bitter as he was then, relied on intangibles to chastise the NPP government.

There is no qualm; Yankey and Alhaji Seidu Amadu were forced to resign, as part of the present government’s avowed promise to the people of Ghana that it would act swiftly on any suspicion of corruption. The government of Ghana should not “rush” in its decision-making process.

If High-end corrupt practices in developed countries are anything to go by, then the level of corruption in Africa is just a drop in the ocean, a low noise that cannot stand the louder workings of the fraudulent West.

There is no admiration, not one bit, the level of intolerance and in what appears as a failure of the government of Ghana to confront problems facing our people, compared to its partisan appeasement.

However, if Sipa Yankey was, indeed, doing an excellent job as the minister of health, why should the government of Ghana sacrifice him? Perhaps, the government is being hunted by its supporters past utterances on both real and perceived corruption when in opposition.

Angels and infallibility are in short supply globally. Checking the records, even in countries where genuineness should have defined their humanity, such environments have rather become havens for corrupt men intoxicated by the desire for wealth.

Corruption was not nurtured with the Ghanaian in mind, and this Mabey & Johnson case is an ample testimony. An Englishman was the decoy in this clandestine chronicle of a shameful global business adventure.

For Heaven’s sake, let us remove our partisan lenses, and leave Kwame Peprah out of this mess. Mabey & Johnson did not deposit a dime in his bank account, as we wait for a “Better Ghana,” that political campaign promise which is fast fading.