Ghana, as a matter of fact, has been losing billions of dollars since the adoption of the Fourth Republican Constitution to the obdurate nation wreckers, who, unfortunately, take bizarre delight in fleecing the state to the detriment of the penniless Ghanaians.
Corruption, so to speak, has corrosive effects on the development of a nation, and therefore, any effort by anti-corruption crusaders cannot be scoffed at anyhow. It is against such backdrop that some of us cannot afford to sit aloof, but to give our full support to the current administration for the seeming dint of effort in bringing the alleged bribery and corruption suspects to book.
In the past, some of us gave our full backing to the Office of the Special Prosecutor, Needless to say, the performance of the OSP has been extremely disappointing. In view of the lousy approach by the OSP, there are those who believe that President Mahama’s brainchild, the Operation Recovery All Loot(ORAL) should be given a legal backing to take over from the non-performing OSP.
In recent times, we have read, heard, and watched the Attorney General and the Minister of Justice briefing Ghanaians on the gargantuan corruption and sleazes, including an alleged over GH500 million misappropriation by the previous appointees of the National Service Scheme(NSS), hereafter, the National Service Authority(NSA).
That, to me, is a step in the right direction. That being said, it would also be fair and proper if the Attorney General and the ORAL can investigate the present and all the previous bribery and corruption allegations, including the double salary grabbing Members of Parliament.
Of course, the recipients of the alleged double salaries have an inherent right to the presumption of innocence. Suffice it to emphasise that it is the job of the investigative bodies to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, or to establish a prima facie case, and not a job for the suspects to prove their innocence.
It is almost seven years since the chilling vineyard news spiralled through that some Members of Parliament have allegedly grabbed double salaries at the expense of the destitute, the infirm, and disadvantaged Ghanaians.
Regrettably, however, as I write, nothing meaningful has been done towards bringing the suspects to book. I must confess that I had mixed feelings when I read some time ago that the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service had submitted the dockets on the investigations of the double salary grabbing Members of Parliament to the Attorney General’s Office for advice.
My incertitude stemmed from the fact that Ghana’s justice system tends to clampdown heavily on the goat, cassava and plantain thieves, and more often than not, let go the stubbornly impenitent criminals who hide behind the narrow political colorations.
Ghanaian politics has become an embarrassing profession, not a noble profession it used to be. Suffice it to say, it takes good people—good citizens and leaders with impeccable integrity and unmatched commitment to build a prosperous nation.
Yet a lot of people who can claim birth right to steadfast adherence to moral or ethical code would never go into politics. I presume they dislike the toxic levels of partisanship. They hate the intrusive media scrutiny and they aren’t ready to pay the high personal costs of political life.
Once upon a time, anyone who gained a seat in parliament was looked up to and respected by all. Alas this is not the case anymore. It is quite nauseating to see some public officials who prefer to be called honourable behaving somewhat dishonourably.
How can honourable Members of Parliament knowingly keep double salaries to the detriment of the poor and the disadvantaged Ghanaians? It beggars belief that individuals could form an alliance, create, loot and share gargantuan sums of money belonging to the state and would eventually slip through the justice net.
If the law can excuse a suspected double salary grabbing Member of Parliament from prosecution, the law might as well make room for the equally important contributors such as farmers, teachers, doctors among others. Why must we allow a section of the population to perpetrate criminalities and then hide behind the law?
I have always maintained that if we are ever prepared to beseech the fantastically corrupt public officials to only return their loots without any further punishment, we might as well treat the goat, plantain and cassava thieves same. For after all, what is good for the goose is good for the gander.
I am afraid, the democratic country called Ghana may not see any meaningful development, so long as we have public officials who are extremely greedy, corrupt, and insensitive to the plight of the impoverished Ghanaians. It may sound somewhat hackneyed in the ears of some observers, but the fact remains that we began life with the likes of South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore, and, look at where they are today.
They are diligently making cars, Mobile phones, electronics, good roads and good housing. And, they have put in place pragmatic policies and programmes to developed their respective countries and just look at where we are today.
Disappointingly, we now go to those countries we started life with, and beg for donations, or borrow money. I weep for my beloved Ghana. Obviously, we need a true leadership with vision and ideas, altruistic and charismatic leadership devoid of corruption, greed, Incompetence and capable of transforming us into an industrialized and robust economy.
Where is the fairness when the political thieves could shamefully dip their hands into the national purse as if there is no tomorrow and go scot free, while the goat, cassava and plantain thieves are incarcerated?
I have always insisted that there is no deterrent for political criminals. If that were not the case, how come political criminals more often than not, go through the justice net, despite incontrovertible evidence of wrong doing?
The law is not a respecter of persons, and therefore the alleged double salary Members of Parliament must be investigated thoroughly and those who are found culpable of wrong doing be prosecuted. After all, the right antidote to curbing the unbridled sleazes and corruption is through stiff punishments, including the retrieval of all stolen monies, sale of properties and harsh prison sentences.
