Valley View Business School holds conference

Professor Edward Marfo-Yiadom, Dean, School of Business, University of Cape Coast, on Monday called on Ghanaians to help fight corruption which had become a canker in the society.

He said it would take the collective efforts of all to root the canker, which was hindering the nation’s development.

Prof. Marfo-Yiadom was speaking at the opening of this year’s International Conference of Valley View University School of Business, at Oyibi in the Kpone-Katamanso District of the Greater Accra Region.

Fifty participants drawn from Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone are attending the two-day conference on the theme: “Global Ethical Dilemma: Issues and Challenges.”

Prof. Marfo-Yiadom said ethics was taught as a full course in many institutions yet people came out to practice corruption.

“It is unfortunate that if you do not have character and you are rich, society respects you,” he said, adding that the whole society had abandoned ethics and was practicing the unethical.

He expressed regret that government had set up bodies such as Bureau of National Investigation, Narcotics Control Board and Whistle Blowers Act but corruption still existed.

To confront corruption as a country, Prof. Marfo-Yiadom called for clear rules, procedures and processes in order to reduce the discretion of power vested in some public officials.

He stressed the need for public consensus in fighting corruption in the wake of many counter arguments by a section of Ghanaians anytime a high profile corruption case came up.

Prof. Marfo-Yiadom cited political actors getting rich overnight, services being paid for which were not delivered or poorly delivered, and gaining positions not by merit but through some dubious means as some of the examples of the manifestation of corruption.

He expressed the hope that participants would impart the knowledge acquired on the society since Christ was at the centre to bring a change.

Prof. Dr Daniel Bour, Vice Chancellor of Valley View University, who chaired the function, praised the Business School for organising the conference and challenged students, staff and faculty to be ethical.

He called for urgent prayers to free Ghana from the grips of corruption which, he said, was associated with the works of darkness, evil and sin.

Dr Mrs Irene Akuamoah Boateng, Dean of the School of Business, said the conference was to provide a platform for academicians, business and faculty to deliberate on issues of national interest.

She said the school would continue to play a vital role in the socio-economic development of the nation and called for support.