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
-
Ghana must seize hard-won fiscal space to drive growth, jobs – IMFÂ
8 minutes -
Black Queens’ Mary Amponsah donates to lower division side Blacoe Soccer Queens
40 minutes -
10 miners rescued after pit collapse at Konongo mining site
40 minutes -
“Don’t let power intoxicate you” – Kojo Adu Asare fires warning to “wicked” appointees
3 hours -
The status of the Ghana Law School Entrance Exams and current routes to being a lawyer
4 hours -
How pension funds can solve Ghana’s university hostel crisis
5 hours -
Abu Trica released after meeting bail conditions
5 hours -
Trump warns Taiwan against declaring independence, hours after summit with China’s Xi
5 hours -
Kojo Adu Asare opens up on 6-year battle with kidney failure and GH₵2000 weekly dialysis cost
6 hours -
Two jailed, one fined over Akyem Oda cutlass fight
7 hours -
‘The legacy lives on’ – DWM marks 44 years with tribute to Nana Konadu
7 hours -
ASAC 2026: Medals, finals and all the action from Day 4 through the lens
7 hours -
CPC crisis: Interdicted staff deny ₵4.3m liability; demand immediate reinstatement
8 hours -
This Saturday on Prime Insight: Asante Akyem North MP arrest and free speech debate
9 hours -
Beckhams become billionaires as Oasis make rich list for first time
9 hours