The Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference has affirmed its stance on corruption fight in the country, emphasising that it had never been silent on corruption issues in the country.
The Most Rev. Gabriel Edoe Kumordji, SVD, Bishop of Keta-Akatsi, who made the affirmation at a Town Hall Meeting on August 19, 2021 at the Christ the King Parish Hall, Accra, said the Catholic Bishops of Ghana have been engaging government off the media.
The meeting on the theme: “Combating the Virus of Corruption in Our Country: My Commitment as A Christian Professional” was organised by the Arrupe Jesuit Institute and the Catholic Professionals Guilds.
Responding to accusations by some Ghanaians that Catholic Bishops of Ghana have been soft in criticizing the NPP-government as compared to the previous NDC-government, Bishop Kumordji described the critics as “ignorant”.
“When they were asking where are the Bishops, I think these things come very often. We heard it, people were saying that they have thrown Daniel Yaw Domelevo away and we want to prosecute him. I say this is out of ignorance. We have been to the President about two times on Domelevo’s behalf and the reporters were there, but we told them to go out because this was behind closed doors and we enumerated all the things we heard,” he explained.
He continued that, “Catholic Bishops do not come to the media just to speak, because the effect of what you speak in the media now doesn’t change the real situation.”
The town hall meeting featured many anti-corruption campaigners including Christian leaders and the immediate past Auditor General, Daniel Domelovo, who couldn’t make clear submissions to the audience due to challenges with internet.
Speaking at the event, the CEO of Dalex Finance Limited, Kenneth Kwamina Thompson, said the effects of corruption on the development of Ghana cannot be underestimated, hence the need for strict measures to fight it.
The Chartered Accountant said “We must put the laws to practice. We are suffering in this country and people are robbing the state, making wealth in just some short time.”
The laws must work, all we need now is to make the laws work,” he added.
The Executive Director of the National Population Council (NPC), Dr. Leticia Appiah, said until Ghanaians changed their mindsets on some cultural beliefs, corruption would continue to exist.
She explained this with the difficulties some MPs have been going through to meet the demands of their constituents.
According to her, “A politician once told me that even though he has three children, he is taking care of three other children. In a second story, a lady MP said, whenever she visits her constituents, she makes appearances at not less than 10 funerals and is expected to make contributions at every single one.
The question is where are some of the big people who are not so endowed supposed to get the money to meet their expected obligation as MPs and CEOs? How long can they continue to support such needy people who appear to be increasing in numbers by day?”.
Dr. Leticia Appiah added that,”Our African Tradition is good but if we don’t allow our traditions to keep us poor and vulnerable to corruption, dealing with corruption may get more difficult.”
Former Auditor General, Mr. Daniel Yaw Domelevo acknowledged the role of digitization in tackling corruption but cautioned that indiscipline would have to be curbed for the desired impact to be made.
“If we don’t curb the indiscipline, the digitalisation will not bring the desired solution,” he added.
Public sector digitalisation has significantly improved efficiency and reduced corruption in many government services.
With this, he, therefore, commended the Vice President; Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia for his efforts in spearheading public sector digitization in the country, which he said is positively impacting the fight against corruption.
“I appreciate the Vice President’s efforts in public sector digitalisation. I commend him,” Mr. Domelevo said.
Dr. Bawumia has led the digital transformation of the country with a digital structure that has seen the digitisation of some aspects of the economy and government services. This has earned the Vice President lots of praises, and the former Auditor General is the latest to add his voice.
The town hall meeting which was partnered by some media Organisations including Newswatchgh.com became expedient due to the fact that the fight against corruption has mainly been done by talks and little action.
It was aimed at identifying and exposing certain aspects of Ghanaian cultural and social life that constitute disvalues in the fight against the virus of corruption. It was also to help undertake the necessary self-introspection leading to a conversation and assembling of the Ghanaian Christian professionals to initiate the debate; to stimulate thinking and even to proffer some concrete proposals for the needed action on this matter.
