Corruption is one of the recurrent topics in Ghanaian politics and probably the one that has caused the fall of all governments in Ghana. ‘Alleged’ and ‘flagrant’ corruption in government have contributed to all electoral losses by incumbents in the Fourth Republic.
It is, however, disturbing to note that Ghana has not made much progress in the fight against corruption within the past decade.
According to Transparency International, Ghana’s Corruption Perception Index has deteriorated between 2013 and 2023 (falling from 46/100 in 2013 to 43/100 in 2023) and has remained stagnant (43/100) between 2020 and 2023.
The current President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, came to power in 2017 after winning a landslide electoral victory in the 2016 elections by defeating President John Dramani Mahama who was seeking a second term. President Nana Akufo-Addo virtually won the election on an anti-corruption platform. At the time, the Mahama government was rocked by many corruption scandals including the Ameri Power deal, the Bus branding saga, GYEEDA and SADA scandals, the Ford saga, the Woyome judgment debt scandal and the Brazil 2014 fiasco.
Expectation
The expectation was that all those involved in corrupt deals were to face the full rigour of the law under President Nana Akufo-Addo and that the new government was going to protect the public purse. Before assuming office, the then President-elect Nana Akufo-Addo, told the potential members of his government to go to the private sector if getting rich was their objective. He repeated this call several times thereby winning public confidence. Unfortunately, however, once he assumed office, Nana Addo passed comments to ‘exonerate’ his officials accused of corruption thereby gaining the nickname “Corruption Clearing Agent.” Although virtually all of Nana Addo’s officials accused of corruption were investigated by state institutions in charge of corruption, his comments ahead of investigations compromised their work.
While the numerous corruption scandals under the Mahama regime have not been dealt with, Nana Addo’s government has also been rocked with many corruption scandals that have made President Mahama look clean. Consequently, in her acceptance speech, President Mahama’s running mate, Professor. Naana Opoku-Agyemang, made a profound statement on the issue, stating that whoever has participated in the plunder of the state must be held accountable. She mentioned specific scandals such as the National Cathedral which she referred to as ‘a multi-million-dollar dugout,’ Covid-19 money, Agyapa deal. Others include the PDS scandal, Australian visas, Kelni GVG, Bost contaminated fuel, the GH¢60.8 billion Bank of Ghana losses.
It is unfortunate that corruption has become a common feature of Ghanaian politics, as it affects everyone, particularly the poor who are the most beneficiaries of government services, especially social interventions. Politicians and military adventurists have been known to ride on the issue to gain power, but they do little to address it once they are in power. Instead, they tend to become more corrupt and fail to fulfil their promises to the people. They also see corruption differently in government than they see it outside government.
The question remains as to why politicians see corruption differently when they are outside of government compared to when they are in power.
Source: graphic.com.gh
