The Occupy Ghana movement has gathered for the second and final edition of the public forum geared towards engaging the minds of Ghanaians to fight corruption.

This time it is the turn of the Most Reverend Charles Gabriel Palmer- Buckle, Elizabeth Ohene, Editor of the Crusading Guide newspaper Kweku Baako Jnr. Prof Henry Kwesi Prempeh.

Caseley Hayford of Occupy Ghana sets the ball rolling. I want to be open and blunt as possible. Two members of Occupy Ghana had their homes raided. Phones and laptops were stolen.

Yesterday Dr Esi Ansah was raided. All her phones, laptops cash and personal properties taken away. Last night on my way to a meeting my left front wheel of my tire came off and flew away. I have never removed a tire.

This morning at 10:00  Egbert Faibille, a member had a sound from his car.  He quickly made a diversion to a vulcaniser and discovered all the six bolts had been removed. Somebody doesn't like what we are doing.

I have defied death many a time and I am not worried. My mother was telling a story of how she and her husband had to run away from home because people were persecuting them because her husband had refused to work for government. I have the blessing of my mother to continue what I am doing.

Don't be afraid to follow a just cause. I have no intention of giving up until we get our problems resolved

Last week we put the Auditor General under scrutiny but he has replied to us saying he is on top of job.

 

First Speaker -Prof H Kwasi Prempeh

Who is a citizen, one who casts his vote and remains engaged in the activities of running the state. What we are doing here is civic duty and not an act of rebellion. To do less is to abdicate responsibility as a good citizen.

I will focus remarks on democracy and potential of it to become the vehicle of corruption in Ghana. Indeed corruption is on the rise in Ghana. At the same time we see the pervasiveness of corruption, we also see a growing religiosity in the country. How can we take Sunday Church and Friday Mosque so seriously and yet be so engrossed in corruption? The same people who do hajj, church are often times the same people engaging in corruption.

We have perfected the act of serving God and mammon.  

Motive for corruption

Greed. Despite outward display of religiousity we are quite approval of corruption. We question the intelligence of those in well placed institutions who do not take advantage of their positions to make money. We mock those who do not engage in corruption and often describes such people as not being team players.

Increasingly we measure success by where a person lives and the kinds of cars he drives. I take delight in the number of articles i publish but when you judge me by the standard of drug dealer. We are morally culpable for the epidemic of corruption.

The moral atmosphere alone would not give rise to corruption. We have given tolerance to corruption but such people who engage in corruption are to account for their own deeds.

Democracy which was supposed to be the panacea to fighting corruption has become the vehicle for corruption. It has become a low risk high return job. You only need to be in office for a short period and be rewarded big time.

Kwame Nkrumah once said, seek ye first the political kingdom and all other things shall be added. But that has being reinterpreted as a license to political power so that other things will be added. It became a license for self enrichment.

The capture of state by politicians and of public officials and has become the all consuming bowl for political officers.

In what ways have we created opportunities for corruption in our country.

Who finances our parties and candidates and from what sources? The constitution makes it clear that only a citizen of Ghana should make contribution to parties.

But the truth is that politicians are  interested in the monies from party supporters, houses, talents even violence in whatever currency just so they win elections and when the party wins power you would be rewarded.

When you see vote buying, intimidations etc, these are all manifestations of democracy turned on its head by politicians, for politicians and with politicians.

A cursory survey of laws in Ghana, especially in oil contracts, is littered with discretion. That is the way we go about business here. When we go about it this way provides opportunity for self enrichment.

There is also a low risk of detection and sanction. Because of the game we play, incumbent members are not able to subject their own people before the law. This then creates selective prosecution and investigation.

We also suffer the problem of corruption because of the lack of transparency. Assets declaration which is a legal requirement is rather shrouded in secrecy in Ghana. Income and expenditure are measured so that when a person leaves office we can be able to tell whether the person got his properties the legal way. That is a common way in which corruption is fought in many countries.

But in Ghana when Assets declaration is not public we don't know where they started from in terms of property and where they have gotten to after leaving office and that makes corruption to fester.

Why should we be worried about this kind of behavior.

It lowers political office.

Remedies

We must attack the problem at the source. How we finance political parties matters. They are seen as critical vehicles for the governance of this country. Why are parties not interested in raising monies from general supporters but from few people?

Who enforces the law on political parties?

There is a politicization of the law enforcement in Ghana. There is also the abuse of incumbency. Are we going to see public resources to finance activities of political parties. Those who are out feel cheated because those who are in are feeding large on the resources. After every election Ghana goes through series of economic imbalance. Only this time we have not recovered from it. We must fight it.

Asset Declaration. Public office is not by force. So it is not the place to solve your earthly material problems. Not an opportunity to correct your personal financial deficits.

People who want to serve must do so genuinely that is why we call it public servants not masters.

Tell us how much you were having when you were coming and tell us how much you own when you are leaving office. We have to seize the opportunity of knowing who a citizen is and live accordingly.

 

I wrote an article in which I said Let's call the spade a spade and that is just what I will do.

Last week I was here and when I listened to Ace Ankomah and I was convinced how we have managed to wrap corruption in a very nice way.

If I shout thief, julor, you and I know what will happen. People might carry cutlasses and cudgels to lynch the person. But when officers misappropriate billions of cedis we say it is corruption. It appears to me that thief is for the small people in the society and corruption is for the big men.

I believe there are enough rules to fight corruption in Ghana. Even if we didn't add any and we execute what we have, we will be just fine.

Some say corruption is an African problem but I had a different impression when I went to Botswana covering a story.

In those days Bostwana didn't have many qualified people so they depended on experts from other countries including Ghana. Botswana people understand the rules.

One Ghanaian was appointed and when his two year tenure came to an end he was invited by the authorities and his driver was made to bring a log book in which he chronicled everything the Ghanaian did with the official vehicle after office hours.

In Bostwana the minister is made to pay for the use of the car after office hours but that is not the case in Ghana. Here you can use the official car to your girl friend's house, to funerals and outdooring etc.

In the end, the Ghanaian public official in Bostwana was charged for the use of his car during non working hours and at the end of it all he was given 102 dollars as his end of service benefits.

Public Procurement is a major part of government's expenditure but when it is sole sourcing most of the time, it becomes worrying.

Contracts for construction work

If we have engineers, quantity surveyors who are telling us a six classroom block is to be built for $500,000 then it is just to say that the professionals are doing something to their professional integrity.

The explanation is that when you are doing something for government, they don't pay early so they factor all that into the cost.

Government vehicles are not insured and yet they always get involved in accidents. When your car is hit by government vehicles, they decide with your lawyers how much you will be paid and that is avenues for corruption.

If government cars are insured some of these corrupt acts will not happen.

In this country you can build without a permit and on land you don't have a title to. So if that can happen how easy would it be to know who owns which property?

Assets Declaration protects people against the perception of corruption. I am willing for people to know what I have and how I earned it. Others say it had to do with cultural milieu.

Let me end with something that happened when I was in the Education Ministry. I took interest with special needs school because they are the lowest of the low.

I met a friend when I visited one of the schools. And about three other visits I met him and got worried. So I invited him and he told me a story of how the normal schools have their feeding grants sent to them but for the special need schools, their heads have to come to Accra to collect and even that they are forced to pay cuts to the people who give the monies to them and I was shocked. I got into it and realised that there were seven young guys who were into the matter and they told me that all they do is give the money out and the heads say thank you. We have people in Ghana who are ready to take thank yous from the blind, the deaf etc. God save us.

 

Kweku Baako Jnr

Domestic challenge made me late. I am sorry but you can charge with corruption of coming late. Given the speeches I have heard I am confident Ghana will work again.

I intend to focus on Occupy Ghana and its significance. I have seen many groups and street activities. Occupy Ghana take their trade very serious. The timing is just right.

Dr Prempeh mentioned democracy and how it has partly led to corruption. Corruption is as old as Adam. That is not a tolerance of corruption but to admit it exists and we must fight it. It is a recognition that there are people who are deviants and who would go contrary to the norm.

William Ofori Atta wanted corruption fought in 1956. Nkrumah came in the 56 with his anti-corruption agenda and the others followed. Bottom line is that we all recognise that in spite of the laws we are still grappling with corruption. I doubt if people will say there is no corruption. I know government spokespersons are defensive when it comes to corruption.

I have heard there is an attempt to tag the group and draw it into partisan realm. This group must have a courage of conviction. It doesn't matter which political group you belong but once you believe corruption is a canker we must begin to fight it.

I have come out of retirement to join this powerful advocacy group. It is a network for the brains if at some point we want to flex our muscles small we will go onto the street.

Since 1989 what has happened to the Divestiture Implementation Committee is mind boggling and we must turn our attention to them. I will join the research committee of the Occupy Ghana group.

Rev Gabriel Palmer Buckle

My eyes have seen the coming of the dawn. 

Only the human being is capable of descending into a beast or ascending higher than angel.

The human being is the only creature capable of stooping lower than beasts and soaring to heights greater than angels.

To err is human. Corruption is human. It is endemic to human society and found in every human society

Corruption is defined in many forms. It embraces an entire spectrum of human behavior which affects a person or a country.

In ordinary parlance there are three ways of defining  corruption; petty or survival corruption, big time corruption and there is political corruption. All these three are what is commonly known as administrative corruption

Petty Corruption

It is also called ordinary corruption. May involved petty amounts. But how small is petty corruption and when does the petty graduate into grandscale corruption.

Could this deviant behavior not caused by greed. Petty corruption is regarded with some compassion.

BIG TIME Corruption

Attributed to greed, selfishness.

In the case of political corruption, the need will be to repay loan; it may be for the survival of political parties or the sheer greed for money and property.

In all of these three cases, whether real or good are basically human. They are grounded in our human. Everybody has a right to food, clothing and even to a modicum of survival.

Corruption is not only human; it is anti-human. Many poor people do not resort to corruption but we all know that corruption leads to poverty.

Invariably it is not the cruel who are most corrupt. It is the big men; those whose survival is assured a hundred times over are the ones who indulge in corruption.

Example is the Mobutu Seseku but the question is that are there no Mobutus in Ghana?

Even though greed is human it forms the most bestial part of the human being. There are many poor people who are not corrupt. And so also must it be said that not every politician is corrupt. The point is they are celebrated for good conduct.

The human propensity for greed can be more bestial than the beast. Whereas the lion has killed any number of animal can pass by.

Only the human would kill his own human for the sake of corruption. It does not only destroy the person involved but others as well.

It is anti-social element and we must transcend and attain our nobler selves. The human being is endowed with a will to fight the urge of corruption.

Corruption is a self destructive germ in the human being. It is the very reason why it must combated from all fronts.

Gandhi said the world has just enough for what anyone needs and not for anyone's greed.