If I Could Change the World

If I could Change the World

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If I Could Change the World

If I could change the world, I would crack down corruption in Ghana. Considered as the gold coast, Ghana was free from colonial rule in 1957. Gold and cocoa were the economy earners of the time, but recently oil has dramatically aided the sector. With its booming revenue-generating resources, Ghana is expected to be higher than other African countries in economic development. Ghana is considered stable among the West African countries, but insights have shown that corruption has become a significant menace. Ghana being the first West African country to gain independence, other neighbouring countries look up to Ghana as a leader, but the case is twisting. Although they seem to be below the bar on the list, bribery and corruption are decelerating Ghana (Index 2010). According to Gordon (2017), widespread corruption still exists in Ghana, mainly in the parliament and the health sector.

Corruption destroys the lawfulness of the state. In developing countries, corruption has been a critical plan in every politician. Questions have been posed as to who causes corruption. But to narrow down to an answer is to start at the base as to why one would be corrupt. The greed for money, political powers, and the need for higher living standards are the reason that leads to one being corrupt (Churchill et al. 2013). We need to keep the topic squarely in view as it has become a global pandemic. Corruption has been termed to be the greatest enemy of progress in current world times. Corruption has adverse effects that ordinary people tend not to take an interest in. In developing countries, corruption has made nation citizens fail to meet their needs, such as sending their children to public schools because they have turned the free public education to their money-generating business. In sectors like the health sector, mothers have had miscarriages; people have had deaths that could be manageable because medicine provided to the public for free is no longer the case. Global organizations have come together to discuss means to fight the practice knowing that it will not take a day or year to extinguish corruption. In newspapers and media tv, numerous headlines have frequently stuck the front pages in developing countries and the USA and Europe.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), good governance is governance that is free from corruption defining corruption as the abuse of the public office. Hillman 2004, disagrees with persons who say state that its people corrupt the politicians. Coming from the people’s side and not as a leader, he states that its citizens work to bear the consequences and take the burden of the blame. Coming to a breakdown to defining corruption, Rose-Ackerman defines it as the misuse of office power for personal or political gain. Various organizations have come together to explain what corruption stands out to be. When looking at it, its illegal, non-legit action lacks transparency, a crime, and doesn’t promote the people’s interests.

Understanding corruption has helped us know that even the little favors used in the public sector speed up self-operations. Another type that is practices in higher levels of government is grand corruption. Grand corruption occurs when government officials embezzle funds for contracts that are millions of dollars undercover. Another means is looting, whereby officials place things that are never real, such as goods delivered. Most government corruption cases take place in service delivery. The most common corruption is individual corruption, especially in police service administration. Traffic police have been mentioned as culprits in this conduct as they have been sites taking bribe from drivers.

The other key element that needs answers and in-depth analysis is why persons get corrupt. Corruption is constant, and it unveils poor governance. Corruption is a factor where poverty levels are high, weak institutions, lack of accountability and transparency. Both global and inter-government factors have factored causes of corruption in Ghana. One of the other factors that led to Ghana’s corruption is the lack of a body that deals with corruption when forming the government. Once, the first politicians practised the acts and walked free without charge. This failure to hold people responsible and punish them increased corruption in Ghana. Choosing leaders with integrity has been an issue not only in Ghana but in other nations. During elections, some leaders tend to beg for votes from the public addressing what agendas they tend to achieve, but after gaining power, the results are a bombshell. The Ghanian citizens have also lacked a system to report corruption cases, and thus the public has been left out in participation to curb the menace. With corruption in government, nepotism has arisen as people favour their own. Service delivery penurious as the qualified are left out when the favoured are taken in.

In a case where a police officer practices bribery, the aftermaths of the result are insecurity and poor-quality service delivery. The final effects only burden the locals who are inferior in the ecosystem. In the health sector, corruption will only result in death and life. Health practitioners may demand money for medicines while they should be given free. This greed for money leads to poor service delivery to the local as, without money, they can’t access satisfactory services. Corruption has also led to other factors such as drug trafficking so that the locals can cater to their needs. With crime, violence against women and children has sparked an increase, and they lack accountability as all branches in the Ghanaian government are corrupt. Political corruption is also a key hindrance to the economic growth of Ghana. For instance, in a campaign 2016, a politician was seen buying votes in a market seen in a viral video (Cheeseman et al., 2017). These act shows that their freedom of expression is cut as they will vote based on enticement rather than voting for a leader whose agenda is to forefront development. Corruption created an enormous disparity between the rich and the poor as services are available to those with a higher ranking in society. It’s heart-rending that the citizens who work tirelessly and pay taxes don’t get value for their nation-building participation.

Understanding corruption is that in the end, everyone is affected negatively; hence it’s everyone’s responsibility to take action and trail this pandemic. Although intergovernmental bodies have been formed to curb the menace, it highly recommends that citizens stop the practice. Ghana antigraft body and Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) has given stats that approximately 3 billion USD is lost on corruption annually (Sarfo-Kantankah, 2018). In efforts to end corruption, the Ghanaian country should end impunity, and those involved in the practice held responsibly. The government should also have transparency and contact between the governments and the governed be initialized.

References

Cheeseman, N., Lynch, G., & Willis, J. (2017). Ghana: the ebbing power of incumbency. Journal of Democracy, 28(2), 92-104.

Churchill, R. Q., Agbodohu, W., & Arhenful, P. (2013). Determining factors affecting corruption: A cross country analysis. International Journal of Economics, Business and Finance, 1(10), 275-285.

Gordon, M. B. (2017). Bribery and corruption in public service delivery: Experience from the Ghana Judicial Service. Available at SSRN 2922519.

Hillman, A. L. (2004). Corruption and public finance: an IMF perspective. European Journal of Political Economy, 20(4), 1067-1077.

Index, C. P. (2010). Transparency international. URL: http://www. transparency. org/news/feature/cpi_2013_now_is_the_time_for_action.

Rose-Ackerman, S. (1999). Political corruption and democracy. Conn. J. Int’l L., 14, 363.

Sarfo-Kantankah, K. S. (2018). Corruption is a big issue: A corpus-assisted study of the discursive construction of corruption in Ghanaian parliamentary discourse. Legon Journal of the Humanities, 29(1), 226-258.