My take on corruption in Ghana

; As it happened yesterday,today and will......tomorrow.

I don't know where and how to start because the thoughts in me are ones some readers might have wanted me to euphemise if they could read my mind. Such thoughts might contain propositions at variance with the expectations of my colleague polititians from across all parties but what else could I have thanked Chinua Achebe for, than "a lizard who falls from the high Iroko tree will praise himself if no one else does"?

Ok! Let me begin with a quote; "Corruption is worse than prostitution. The latter might endanger the morals of an individual, the former invariably endangers the morals of the entire country." Karl Kraus

To me, Ghana has made an incomparable achievement in her story of fight against corruption. Awwww, I know you might get pissed off by this statement, specially, Abdallah Malcolm and the like, but that is the concrete reality. What then is the achievement and in what respect has that been done? Point is, we have achieved remarkable failure in dealing with corruption and the best measure we have employed in dealing with it is BLAME-GAME. This has been the best "law" in Ghana that is revered beyond equal when we talk about punishing and dealing with corruption. Much as I may not want to hurt my political spouse, NDC, with whom I have engaged in a political marriage, I equally asseverate that all governments of Ghana since independence have been corrupt and supervised sheer corruption. I may fear for both private and public political backlash but I have no qualms because I rather see no "feliz" in our quest to serve the ordinary citizens if we continue to STEAL from them and skillfully turn around to blame one another.

Personally, I get the feeling that the BLAME-GAME is a well crafted political scheme, that has for decades, succeeded in dividing those very citizens along political idiosyncrasies of various parties and governments who have found corruption so dear and profitable. Unfortunately, the have-been-cheated-for-long have allowed themselves to be used to perpetrate the evil. This has further provided for the syndrome to rigorously permeate the public sector which has for long been an institution of "paucity of the Werberian Protestant Ethic" (lack of ideal beaurocracy....).

Fellow country men and women, especially colleague political commentators, until we stop hiding under the cloak of political interests, which to say the truth, has not only achieved remarkable failure but also damaged our social and economic prospects severely, we will continue to be on our way but not knowing where we are going.

I shall return to tell more of the story on corruption.....but before I leave you, enjoy the following quotes till I knock on your door again with more:

"In a state where corruption abounds, laws must be very numerous." Tacitus

"It is not the young people that degenerate; they are not spoiled till those of mature age are already sunk into corruption." Charles de Montesquieu

"Our quest to fight corruption in Ghana will be meaningless until it is linked with total liberation of the Ghanaian people from their socio-economic woes, which are greately caused by not nature, but corruption."

Alhassan Rabiu is a Student of Social and Development Administration at the University for Development Studies, Wa, Ghana.