Audio By Carbonatix
Governance expert Prof. Henry Kwasi Prempeh has expressed worry about an increasing Ghanaian numbness to corruption.
He said Ghanaians appear to have made excuses for which kind of corruption is really corruption.
"We have many, many classifications of what is corruption", the Executive Director of the Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) said on the Joy FM Super Morning Show Tuesday.
Some excusable forms of corruption among Ghanaians are monies given to police officers in traffic to ignore infractions of road traffic regulations.
In an attempt to stress how dangerous these classifications can be in weakening a nation's psyche towards wrong, he explained that a sign of great corruption is bribing police officers.
"We think the money is small...when you allow that kind of visible corruption to go on unchecked it normalises it," he stressed ahead of the Kronti ne Akwamu Lecture, slated Thursday 30th August, 2018.
The CDD Executive Director said there is nothing that most symbolizes a functioning government than the visible presence of a police officer. Giving him a bribe, is, therefore, bribing the entire government.
"If you can corrupt the police, you can corrupt pretty much everybody", he said and pointed to this as 'the beginning of sliding down a slippery slope to the point where it is getting out of hand'.
Prof. Prempeh who maintains an active presence on social media also expressed worry about what he observed as a legalistic attitude towards corruption.
"When you make an allegation of corruption, you are met with the lawyer's response, 'where is the evidence' as if we are in the courtroom.
"When the people who are witnesses to the corrupt act, put you to the burden of coming up with evidence, you know you are not going to get anywhere in fighting corruption," he noted.
Prof. Prempeh said instead of asking for evidence of corruption, the measure of corruption should be whether a government project or programme offers value for money.
"What fails the value for money test, also likely fails the corruption test. If you approach it from that angle, you will catch a lot of people without being met with all this show-me-the-evidence talk".
Latest Stories
-
T-bills auction: Government records undersubscription for 5th week running; interest rates continue to rise
48 minutes -
Sub-Saharan Africa GDP growth to soften to 4.3% in 2026
60 minutes -
Passenger arrivals decline 18.9% month-on-month to 110,087 in January 2026
1 hour -
Consumer spending records strong performance in January 2026, but construction sector activities declined – BoG
1 hour -
Number of advertised jobs falls in February 2026 – BoG
1 hour -
Government’s new free primary healthcare policy marks a turning point in saving lives in Ghana
1 hour -
Asiedu Nkekia heads north, hists Upper West on Monday
2 hours -
Aduana family rejects ‘breakaway’ claim, reaffirms loyalty to Okyenhene
3 hours -
Mahama applauds progress on Tamale Teaching Hospital Cardiology Centre
3 hours -
GRASAG holds 30th Annual National Congress at UCC, elects new leadership
3 hours -
Nyinahini Bauxite Deal: Community pushes GIADEC to consider local investors
3 hours -
Assafuah alleges nepotism at NPRA over rapid promotion and GH¢90k transfer grant
5 hours -
Fire ravages Berekum Cinema Hall, destroying property worth thousands of cedis
6 hours -
To create a prosecutorial office, Article 88 must be amended – Deputy AG
6 hours -
Mahama directs Health Ministry to establish Tamale cancer treatment centre as new cardio facility nears completion
6 hours