Author: Ajoa Yeboah-AfariFor as long as I can remember, the ‘c’ word, has taken centre stage in every political campaign in Ghana. ‘Fighting corruption’ has featured on every political party’s priority list. But is success in sight?
“Ghanaians don’t hate corruption. We love it. The only ones we hate are those that we do not benefit from.” This somewhat cynical, witty, tongue-in-cheek comment was expressed recently on an internet platform I belong to.
DEFINITION OF ‘CORRUPTION’
AI (artificial intelligence) overview/summary
“Corruption … encompasses various forms of dishonesty and criminal offences, including bribery, extortion, fraud, and embezzlement … In essence, corruption involves using one’s official position to gain illicit advantages….”
We may not like or agree with the above quoted sarcasm, but isn’t it the case that people easily forgive or excuse corruption once they’re benefitting directly or indirectly from it?
It appears that we, Ghanaians, tend not to see as wrong or meriting the ‘c’ word description any personal dishonesty, deceit for gain, or even theft.
Moreover, in Ghana, seemingly, when ‘corruption’ is mentioned, people immediately link it to politicians! Or others in high positions. Apparently, the ‘ordinary’ Ghanaian is exempt from that, or rather, they see themselves as different. To them corruption is what other people do.
But how ‘clean’ are the rest of us?
Two recent personal experiences, of the behaviour of ‘ordinary’ Ghanaians, the kind who doubtless are eloquent about corrupt politicians, come to mind:
On May 14, 2025 I sent my house help, Ms. E, to go and buy cooking gas (Liquified Petroleum Gas or LPG) at the Dansoman depot which my household has been patronising for more than a decade. Before she set out, I called the depot office to check availability as well as the current price. Yes, they had gas and the 14.5 kg I required was GHc245.
Ms. E returned with my two cylinders filled, but told me the price had now changed to GHc250; thus, GHc500 for the two. However, she explained that for the first time, she had gone to the second filling stand, instead of the first one she had been patronising, as that queue was shorter.
To her surprise, when she asked for a receipt, the attendant, a young man, told her they were not issuing receipts, that “they were operating like a fuel station, and fuel stations don’t give receipts”!
Yet, fuel stations do give a receipt if one asks for it!
Suspecting something fishy, two days later I called the office again. The attendant I had spoken with on 14th, confirmed that the price was still GHc245 and they still issued receipts. She was clearly surprised when I narrated Ms. E’s experience at the second filling point.
Doubtless, her colleague, that ‘ordinary’ Ghanaian didn’t see anything wrong about cheating customers out of GHc5, or more, on each gas cylinder filled!
Of course, GHc5 is not a big amount, but it’s the scamming which is infuriating. Moreover, if he/they should skim off daily the unearned GHc5 for, say, 20 or more customers that gives them a tidy sum; and on which they pay no tax. And there are numerous such con practices.
How many car owners know a mechanic who after buying an allegedly needed spare part for their car, brings back a genuine receipt, or any receipt? How many people know a mason, carpenter or plumber who, given an estimated sum to buy cement, or a replacement part, brings back a receipt?
You can be sure that these workmen are among the most dedicated church or mosque members, who profess their religious status at every opportunity!
I’m told that even with a revered traditional observance like the annual pre-Homowo festival ban on drumming and noise making in Accra (May 12 to June 12, this year), some unscrupulous youth, have found ways to make illicit gains from it. Usually, it’s by extorting money from the vulnerable and voiceless operators of small businesses, on flimsy accusations of noise ban infringement.
The owner of a small enterprise in a kiosk, who has a tiny TV set there, told me that a few days ago, some young men came round, as some did last year, warning her that even the sound from her TV was a ban infringement! However, her TV’s volume wasn’t even audible beyond the kiosk entrance! She had to give them ‘a little something’, before they left. Clearly, such scammers are acting on their own, no authority has sanctioned this exploitation.
Prior to that gas depot incident, I experienced an attempted scam in my house when a young man was sent to replace a torn mosquito net.
Unknown to him, earlier I had checked the price with his master, and had been told that the special net was GHc30 a yard. But the young man brazenly quoted GHc40 a yard! I told him that I would pay what his master had quoted just hours earlier. He tried to wriggle his way out with a lame explanation.
And surely, it is some of these ‘ordinary’ Ghanaians and youth who in future end up in positions of authority. Obviously, having come to see nothing wrong with dishonesty and cheating, why would they change, or see anything wrong with using their position to demand bribes?
So, it’s not only some politicians allegedly diverting project money into their own bank accounts; or some chiefs accepting ‘sweeteners’ to allow community water sources to be destroyed by galamsey (illicit mining); or rogue policemen demanding money from supposedly errant drivers who are guilty.
Also, it’s not only when huge sums are involved that the ‘c’ word is applicable. Small sums and incidents each add up to the big picture and put Ghana in global corruption charts.
Of course there is hardship in Ghana, as is the case in many other countries. But should that lead anybody into corruption?
Take the recent astounding revelation that ‘ghost names’ are still a national canker!
“The Ghana government (has) ordered an investigation into 81,000 suspected ‘ghost names’ on the National Service Authority payroll. These ‘ghost names’ were discovered after a headcount of active National Service personnel was conducted….”
As defined by a reference source: “In Ghana, ‘ghost names’ refers to fraudulent entries on payrolls or other lists, where individuals are falsely listed as employees or members of a group, often with the intention of receiving payments or benefits they are not entitled to.
If the perpetual declared offensive against corruption is to make any headway, surely it has to begin from home and kindergarten! Every segment of the society, every person, need to accept that any form of cheating, fraud and practices for illicit gain can’t be tolerated.
Evidently, the challenge lies in ‘catching them young’, implementing and sustaining a culture of propriety. But so long as people view corruption only as what others do, the chances of winning this fight are doubtful.
Corruption is harming the economy, retarding the progress of the country. People need to appreciate the impact of their actions – or be made to understand by appropriate deterrent punishment for offenders, no matter who, or their political affiliation.
