Tema-Ghana, Aug. 14, CDA Consult – According to Mr. Richard A. Quayson, Deputy Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), “we cannot work across purposes,” so state and non-state institutions must collaborate on accountability and transparency strategies in public, private, and non-profit institutions.
Mr. Quayson made this statement during an interaction at the Ghana News Agency Tema Industrial News Hub Boardroom Dialogue platform. “We must all collectively move away from the talk, talk and act on issues of corruption, and we must report an incident of corruption from our workplaces,” he said.
The Deputy CHRAJ Commission noted that the commission’s doors are open wide for anyone who smells corrupt practises at work or at any public institution to walk in and report; we will protect your identity and conduct our own investigations.
The commissioner was speaking on the subject: “Is the fight against corruption a mirage or a reality 30 years in the fourth republic? At the event which was monitored by the Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult) in Tema.
“We can only fight it when everyone opens their eyes wide and uses their common sense to oppose corrupt practises,” he stated.
In order to combat corruption, Mr. Quayson said that “it is time to infuse fearless honesty into the national behaviour and ignite collective sustained action with co-ordinated efforts”,
The National Anti-Corruption Action Plan (NACAP) rollover initiatives, according to him, aim to increase public awareness of corruption, make it a high-risk, low-gain activity, and tighten the noose around it.
The CHRAJ Deputy Commissioner added that the fight against corruption depends on institutionalising effectiveness, accountability, and transparency in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors; involving people, the media, and civil society organisations in the detection and eradication of corruption; and carrying out efficient investigations and legal actions against corrupt behaviour.
The public is getting more sceptical about the government’s commitment to effectively combating the problem of corruption as it is perceived to be on the rise.
“Due to inadequate understanding of the complex mixture of factors implicated in corruption, lack of public participation in the development and implementation of the anti-corruption measures, and failure to foster local ownership in the formulation and implementation of the various strategies, confidence in the integrity of public office is quickly eroding.
“Lack of effective and sustained coordination in the implementation of anti-corruption measures; and lackadaisical government commitment to, and limited support for, the implementation of anti-corruption strategies,” he said.
Mr. Quayson remarked that the patrimonial nature of Ghanaian society, where informal relationships, familial ties, and social reciprocity are expressed in degrees of favouritism, cronyism, and nepotism, is mostly responsible for fostering and influencing corruption.He said that Ghana’s social and economic institutions “exhibit a complex interplay between the traditional and the modern.”
He claimed that in forming our social and economic institutions, cultural considerations also play a significant role.
“It is believed that the culture of gift-giving and gift-taking, which is employed in our culture to strengthen social and business ties, fosters corruption.
The patronage system also has a fundamental impact on the formal system, leading to inconsistencies between how institutions should function in theory and how they really function, as informal practises take the place of formal structures.
As a result, “political competition and public administration frequently seem to be governed more by personal ties than by formal rules.”
According to Mr. Francis Ameyibor, Regional Manager of the GNA in Tema, the media is crucial in uncovering corruption, reporting on it, and garnering support for efforts to stop it.
“The fight against corruption requires a free, independent media with proper access to information. The only way to create a climate where corruption is a high-risk, low-reward endeavour is to expose instances of it, according to Mr. Ameyibor.
Additionally, Mr. Ameyibor advised the media to refrain from bias and sensationalism while reporting on the prevalence of corruption because such reporting could impair the effectiveness of anti-corruption organisations to combat corruption in a productive manner.
