Government serially accused of failing to fight corruption
Justice Kulendi warns corruption can disrupt democratic rule
Supreme Court Justice Emmanuel Yonny Kulendi, has cautioned about the negative consequences that corruption can wreak on national life, tasking all citizens to unite against it.
The apex court Justice said if leadership fails to hand over a society that adequately fights the canker, the long-term effects could be threats to national security and ultimately to Ghana’s democracy.
He was speaking on Wednesday, June 20, in Accra at the Release of survey results on corruption in Ghana. He also lamented a myriad of negative consequences that corruption visits on national life.
“If we fail to prevail in our fight against corruption, it is fast draining the public purse, creating barriers to economic development, decreasing effectiveness and efficiency of public services, increasing transactional cost, undermining equity and fairness in our society.
“…making nonsense of due process and law, eroding the legitimacy of governments and will ultimately bring down our democracy and upset our national security.
“History will and ought to judge us harshly if we were to bequeath such a future to our children and to posterity,” Yonny Kulendi stressed.
About the Corruption in Ghana survey – GNA report
The maiden national survey, titled: “Corruption in Ghana – people’s experiences and views” also disclosed that more than 17.4 million bribes were paid in the same period.
The survey was conducted by the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) in collaboration with the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
It collected evidence-based information from 15,000 households across the country involving people who were 18 years and older on the forms of corruption affecting the population of Ghana.
This is to determine the prevalence of the situation and its prevailing typologies, give benchmark indicators that can be used to inform relevant policies to curb administrative corruption in various public institutions in the country.
Apart from the cash payment, which contributed 84.8 per cent of the forms of bribe paid, 13.3 per cent of the bribes paid were food and drinks; 9.7 per cent, exchange for other services; 5 per cent valuables, and 2.2 per cent animals.
The bribes were paid by 33.6 per cent citizens to speed up procedures; 15.8 per cent, as a sign of appreciation; 13.8 per cent, to avoid the payment of fine; 10.8 per cent to avoid problems, and 3.1 per cent, to avoid the cancellation of public utilities.
Ghana drops on Corruption Perception ranking
According to the 2021 edition of the annual corruption ranking chart by Transparency International, Ghana ranked 73rd out of 180 countries on the Corruption Perception Index, CPI, report released on April 4.
“Ghana’s current performance is still below 50 which is the expected average, thus leaves much to be desired,” the report noted.
Out of 49 African countries ranked, Ghana placed 9th with Senegal, each bagging a score of 43.
Meanwhile, GhanaWeb is accepting nominations for the prestigious GhanaWeb Excellence Awards – Youth Edition. Click here to nominate.
SARA/PEN
Justice Yonny Kulendi, a Judge at the Supreme Court