Many a time we hear how corruption is endemic in Africa and the usual cliche of Africa having a leadership crisis.
But have you ever stopped to think why after so many years and so many scapegoats, leaders around the world still dip their hands deep into the public coffers to covert what belongs to the people?
Joseph Naah-Yerreh of Nsemwoha.com has taken a closer look at the Ghanaian intra and inter party electoral process and have come to the realization that, Ghanaian politicians, pay to serve.
While that wouldn’t look bad at first thought, a pry sees this phenomenon setting off a chain and cyclic reaction that a better chunk of the corruption blame can be apportioned.
We pay to be served, and that’s how come we have a service industry that’s ever growing, but when it comes to public service which a person dedicates his time for the service of the people, why should it be the case that such a person have to pay in order to get the nod to serve?
In the advanced countries that we modeled our democracy on, it is the ordinary people who fund campaigns and every campaign dollar coming in or going out must be accounted for.
In Ghana, the situation is exactly the opposite. The overly monetization of our electoral process has turned many young genuinely patriotic people who were just looking to serve their people, into political businessmen.
They simply pay their way into office and steal back what they “invested” many times over.
The Ghanaian electoral process is now in a self a corruption agent, capable of corrupting the average anti-corruption mumbling Joe.
The hardened ones which refuse to acquiesce to the unscrupulous demands of the system, almost always give up because their fate is set the moment they make their minds to contest based on the sound principles of ideas and not money.
Effectively, every effort aimed at fighting corruption will come to naught if political campaign funding isn’t by law scrutinized and every money leaving or coming in accounted for.
This in itself is the panacea for corruption in public service, but it’s a very good foundation on which all other systems can be built to ensure the public purse does not end up becoming the private wallet of a few.
This is how the big boys play and the path any serious nation must follow.
