Ghanaian award winning journalist and Editor-in-Chief of the 4th Estate, Manasseh Azure Awuni, says it is time Ghanaians begin to see corruption as a dreaded monster that hurts everyone.
Corruption is not an abstract thing that should be left to civil society and a few individuals to fight, he said, at the recent 8th Leadership Dialogue Series on “Uprooting Public Sector and Political Corruption in Ghana,” organised on May 12 by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA).
The CSJ is a platform of social change activists who are young professionals
with left of center political ideological sympathies, engaging proactively and deliberately in Ghana’s political space.
“While we call on state institutions and our leaders to fix the corruption, we, the people should also be willing to fix ourselves and get involved,” Manasseh appealed.
He stated, “The fight against corruption is becoming a hopeless one even if you ignore the danger.” However, he was of the view that Ghanaians should not give up. “If with all the hard work we are still not recording impressive results, it can only get worse if we give up.”
He maintained that corruption cannot be fought using the bottom-up approach, lamenting, “Those we expect to lead us in the fight against corruption are often those who undermine that fight. But we cannot give up, he emphasised, saying “That’s why we vote. In our elections, the subject of corruption features prominently.”
According to Manasseh, the media is a major agent if they can make public sector corruption an exception and not the norm, stating, “Like all manner of evil, corruption thrives in darkness.”
“Unfortunately, for the media, the noose around the neck of free expression is getting tighter every passing day. I know many journalists who are afraid to do critical journalism because of the fear for their lives. When anybody mentions the return of the culture of silence, some people in government get overly defensive, but it is real,” he noted.
“The selective closure of radio stations; the threat and murder of Ahmed Suale; the arrest, detention and alleged torture of Modernghana.com journalists; and the recent arrest and assault of Citi FM’s Caleb Kudah by National Security Operatives are some of the many incidents that have heightened the threat against free expression and media freedom,” he pointed out.
He was of the view that the media must not give up, adding “When the state institutions charged with fighting corruption are failing and the government is not interested in fighting corruption, it will be suicidal if the media should look away.”
On the role of security and Anti-Corruption Agencies, the investigative journalist said the police and other security agencies charged with fighting corruption have to sit up and be counted.
“I know the political class has a tight grip on the police but I also know that some top officers of the security agencies willingly submit to the dictates of the politicians to serve their selfish interests.
He appealed to the Police, Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) and others to “desist from being tools in the hands of politicians and begin to act in ways that will earn them respect and be strengthened to fight corruption.”
Touching on the judiciary, Manasseh said it is where everything in the anti-corruption chain should end if there is going to be any meaningful fight against the canker, adding “Unearthing corruption is difficult. People don’t issue receipts when they deal in corruption-related transactions. Getting prosecutable evidence is difficult. But when the investigators manage to get the evidence and the courts do not cooperate, it emboldens the corrupt.”
The judiciary, he noted, should play its role well when the issues of corruption are brought to the court.
