CORRUPTION IN GHANA

 

The aim of this lecture is to describe in very simple terms various forms of corruption, and the evil effects of corruption on a nation such as Ghana. It is further to educate fellow gentlemen of this great fraternity on the damage that has been caused and continue to be caused by corruption and gain common grounds in our resolve to curb its excesses or eradicate it.

 

Corruption is something we talk about, something we complain about and something whose negative impact we recognise. It is something that even the corrupt acknowledges it is a bad thing but the irony and the tragedy at once is that those who engage in it love it, those who do not engage in it directly accommodate it….. Prof. PLO Lumumba of Kenya

 

According to Ghana integrity initiative (GII) corruption can be defined as any abuse of position of trust in order to gain undue advantage.

It is a phenomenon that involves the conduct of two sides that of a person who abuses the position of trust as well as the one who seeks to gain an undue advantage by this abuse. It can occur in relation to public officials as well as between private persons. Corrupt practices can range from small favours in anticipation of a future advantage to the payment of large sums of money to senior members of public officials.

 

In Ghana today, corruption is synonymous to politicians so any time corruption is mentioned all eyes turn to the direction of the politicians out there. It is an undeniable fact that government emanated corruption is malicious to the economy however our limited perception has not done us any good as a country post-independence as it has actually made us look at the issue in a very narrow manner rather than sort the appropriate remedy to it. It is high time we understand that the issue of corruption is deeply rooted in every aspect of our society, from the home to the school and to the work place. 

 

Consider the following scenarios in a typical Ghanaian society depicting instances of corruption between private parties:

• Many a parent who pay money to educational authorities in order to have their children (whether they qualify or not) enrol in school

• Consider the  Ghs 5 note you fold into the policeman’s palm anytime he stops your vehicle just to avoid close scrutiny/be allowed to break the law;

• The Ghs 500 you gave to the DVLA/passport office staff to disregard the normal procedure and fast make your driver’s licence/passport.

• The building inspector who takes money and allows you build at an unapproved place;

• The crooked plan you hatched with your relative by forcefully making him a contractor and lobbying for Government projects for him so you can have your share;

• Coming across people doing jobs that they are being paid for and still asking for some inducement from the client;

• Submitting a form or an application with an endorsement with a fat envelope just so you would not be ‘forgotten’. Indeed it becomes so normal that when one fails to do this, your documents are either not worked on or would be missing by your next visit.

• You come across an iced water vendor by the street who delayed to give her client in a moving car his due change with the intention of retaining what she is not entitled to;

• You come across a clerk who keeps telling you that the document is not ready but dish out something and the next day you are okay. The same person now begins to shower you with various tittles such as ‘Boosu baako p3’, ‘Chief’, honourable etc.

• We come across some students who while in school pay their ways through in order to make good grades and classes.

• In fact who in Ghana today has never received a form of reward for exercising his civil responsibility which in actual fact he is not entitled.

  

All these may amount to corruption (you may agree with me or not). It is also worth noting that many people have tried to confuse the act of giving and receiving gifts with corrupt practices. while we all agree that in every civil society, there is the act of giving and receiving which is highly acknowledged by all, we must all know that gifts are not given or received in secrets but corrupt practices are done in secrets with the parties involved trying to protect their image. While corrupt practices are done with the intention of getting an unmerited advantage, gifts are not. Whiles corrupt practices are done by abusing one’s entrusted position, gifts are not. We must draw a clear distinction between the two to be guided.

 

Public sector corruption

 

Public sector corruption in Ghana has been common since independence. Since 2006 Ghana’s score and ranking on the transparency international corruption perception index has improved slightly ranked higher than Italy and Brazil. Ghana ranked 64th in 2012 tied with Lesotho and 61st out of 175 countries in 2014.

 

However there is growing perception in Ghana that Government related corruption is on the rise.

In my candid opinion, the public sector corruption begins with what we experienced today, (apologies to our friends in the NPP). From where I sit I could see politicians desperately seeking hundreds of thousands of Ghana cedis as inducement to delegates for votes and that is the beginning of the tragedies of Ghana. We live in a country where when given the chance to elect people to public office we elect them on the basis of the size of the depths of their pockets and ethnic extraction and when they have occupied the public office then we expect them to behave well.

 

In a 1975 book Victor T. le Vine wrote that bribery theft and embezzlement arose from reversion to a traditional winner-takes- all attitude in which power and family relationships prevailed over the rule of law.

 

Corruption occurs both in local and national Government contracts when companies are involved in various bribery scandals. There continues to be allegations of corruption in the tender process and the government often set aside international tender awards in the name of national interest. This has resulted in recent past in the payment of huge judgement debts on the public purse.

 

Businesses report being asked for ‘favours’ from contracts in Ghana in return for facilitating business transactions. The government of Ghana has publicly committed to ensuring that government officials do not use their position to enrich themselves.

 

Official salaries, however are modest, especially for low level government employees and such employees have been known to ask for a “dash” (tip) in return for assisting with license and permit applications. Many government employees leave their posts before their posts before their required time of closing yet they take their full salary.

 

The irony of the situation is, if the politician who has been entrusted with the tax payer’s money is engaging in so much corruption, if the police service that must prosecute corrupt officials, is the first on the corruption index, if the judiciary that must endeavour that people found culpable are tried and if possible imprisoned, and if the media that must help educate the general public on matters of corruption are deeply rooted in corruption, then we are for a disaster as a country. So who watches over the watch man.

 

EFFECTS OF CORRUPTION ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

 

When every other country in the recent past has moved in the right direction Africa and for that matter Ghana still remains, in the words of Tony Blair, as the scar in the conscience of humanity because of corruption.

 

Ghanaian youth are fleeing the country in bizarre circumstances venturing into the unknown. Some are perishing on the Mediterranean seas because they find no hope in their own motherland. We live in a country where public officials who preside over our public institutions such as education and health do not have confidence in the system and hence travel to Germany, South Africa, US and the UK with their families for better health care and education.

Citizens of any country that is tainted with corruption are treated with a high degree of scepticism and are viewed with a third eye wherever they find themselves even though they may be equally competent and of high repute.

Many of our public resources are lost through this practice by our public officials. It is not a matter of surprise that our wage bill keeps on increasing whiles our level of production and effectiveness keep on declining.

 

Other effects of corruption are;

 

1 Inferior public infrastructure and poor maintenance culture

Corruption in Ghana is often seen in the allocation of contracts through the procurement system. For example, corrupt bureaucrats might allow the use of cheap substandard materials in the construction industry. Projects are sometimes never completed because of exorbitant upfront bribes eroding the operating capital. In other instances these projects are completed but never used because they are so poorly built. In these instances capital spending fails to generate economic growth.

 

In Ghana, repairs and maintenance of public infrastructure always takes a back seat to new projects. For fear of being exposed corrupt officials prefer to approve new projects rather than spend to revamp the old corrupt projects they approved in the first place. The result is that new projects are constantly being undertaken whilst existing infrastructure is left to deteriorate.  

A classic example is the recent flood and fire disaster we witnessed at Circle which could partly be attributed to poor maintenance of the facility

 

2. Uncertainty in economic transaction

The prevalence of corruption arguably influences the economic environment through the creation of significantly higher levels of risks and uncertainties in economic transactions.  Take for instance, the process of registering a new business in Ghana and securing requisite licences necessary for a business to kick start. Consider the number of people one needs to “meet” and the amount of indirect facilitation payments outside the normal course of business. This is obviously too frustrating, enough to drive any well meaning investor out of our doors.

 

3 High cost of doing business and its rippling effect on general price levels

When entrepreneurs and businessmen are required to pay bribes before necessary permits are issued, they tend to view it as a cost of doing business and therefore pass that cost onto consumers. Globally, it is estimated that corruption contributes not less than 10% to the cost of doing business. The Anas tape alone shows that people are made to pay “speed money” or grease the palm of bureaucrats and failure leads to delays in clearing goods at our various ports, the eventual effect on cost of goods.  

 

4. Reduced investment, goods and services and inflation

Ghana has almost always been registering double digit inflation for a considerable period of time now. In extreme cases, the extortion of bribes from entrepreneurs can be seen as a tax which can reduce the incentive to invest. Foreign investors shy away from corrupt countries because they claim the cost of doing business is too high when one factors in the bribes. Reduced investments lead to reduced goods and services, a concomitant reduction in GDP and inflation. No wonder Ghana is a net importer of goods and services. US investors must obey US strict laws about corruption, ie paying bribes to influence officials, therefore such investors have no interest in dealing with countries like Ghana that are tainted with corruption.

 

5. Reduced commitment from donor countries

Corruption reduced the effectiveness of aid flows through the diversion of funds from their intended projects. Like many other developing countries Ghana benefits tremendously from aid inflows from donor agencies such as UNICEF, UNESCO, USAID etc. but increasingly these agencies are now concerned that their aid fosters sustainable  development and not end up in the pockets of corrupt government officials or finance unproductive public expenditures. The agencies are therefore focused increasingly on issues of good governance and in those cases of poor governance some donors have scaled back their assistance.

 

6. Reduction in tax revenue

Corruption also brings about loss of tax revenue when it takes the form of tax evasion or the improper use of tax discretionary exemptions.  There are the familiar stories of tax officers receiving bribes and looking the other way as tax evasion runs rampant. 

 

DEALING WITH CORRUTTION IN GHANA

 

Ghana has taken steps over the past few years to amend laws on public financial administration and public procurement. The public procurement law passed in January 2014 seeks to harmonise the many public procurement guidelines into conformity with World Trade Organisation standards. The procurement law aims to improve accountability, value for money, transparency and efficiency in the use of public resources.

The 1992 constitution provided for the establishment of a commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to among other things investigate all instances of alleged and suspected corruption and the misappropriation of public funds by officials.

The commission is also authorised to take appropriate steps including providing reports to the Attorney General and the Auditor General in response to such investigations. The commission has a mandate to prosecute alleged offenders. The commission is however under resourced and few prosecutions have taken place since its inception.

 

In 1998 the Government also established an anti-corruption institution called the serious fraud office, now Economic and organised crime unit to investigate corrupt practices involving both private and public institutions.

In July 20016, the Government passed a “whistle blower” law intended to encourage Ghanaian citizens to volunteer information on corrupt practices to appropriate government agencies.

As to whether these laws have worked effectively remains a question left to be answered by all.

 

Conclusion

 

It is indeed a great whoredom, bribery and corruption is driving us wayward and if measures are not put in place to counteract the canker our generation to come would be like hell on earth. Corruption has a strong potential to steal the wealth of a nation and impoverish its people. The more corrupt a country is the lower its economic growth rate.

 

The fight against the canker must begin here and now, between you and I.

I believe this can be done because if not done we would be done.

 

Thank you.