[ 2015-01-31 ]

70% Of Our ‘Honourables’ Are ‘Dishonourable’ – Prof. Adei
A former Rector of the Ghana Institute of
Management and Public Administration (GIMPA),
Professor Stephen Adei has indicated that Ghana is
capable of reducing corruption to the barest
minimum if citizens desist from hailing corrupt
individuals.

According to him, the fight against corruption is
being impeded because “those who are
dishonourable are called honourables.”

“We cannot build a nation on that basis when
about 70 percent of all those who call themselves
honourable are totally dishonourable and these are
the people whom we must hold accountable,” he
said.

He bemoaned the situation where people with
ill-gotten wealth are hailed as heroes and advised
that the wealth of politicians must be properly
scrutinized.

Citing a recent phenomenon where most wealthy
Ghanaians are buying properties in Dubai and
elsewhere, Professor Adei called for scrutiny by
the public before hailing such personalities.

“Our leaders spend their holidays abroad and
they save their money in Switzerland and other
places so Dubai and other things have become their
new havens. They are buying flats in the deserts!
Are your grandchildren going to live in those
flats?” he queried.

He made these remarks at the launch of a book
titled; ‘Taming a Monster’ by former Korle-Bu
Chief Executive, Professor Kwabena
Frimpong-Boateng.

In his address, he observed that in Ghana,
“leadership is cause, everything else is
effect” and thus asked for a fundamental change
in attitude where the Ghanaians seem to reward
corrupt persons rather than vilify them.

In recent years, corruption has become a topical
issue in Ghana following high profile corruption
cases which rocked the nation.

Varied suggestions have been given on the best way
to fight the problem but Prof Adei is recommending
that it is high time the nation changed its laws
to effectively deal with corrupt persons.He argued
that “we don’t have to prove that somebody is
corrupt. Everybody, what you have, you should be
able to account for it. That’s all!”

In a related development, the Ghana Integrity
Initiative (GII) has condemned the nation’s
asset declaration regime, describing it as
shambolic.

According to the anti-graft agency, it is not
enough to have a law requiring public officers to
declare their assets when the public cannot access
it.

Speaking to Citi News, the Programmes Director at
GII, Mary Addah charged Parliament to expedite
action on the revisions to the asset declaration
laws.

“Currently as the law stands, it’s nothing to
write home about. We have remissions and it’s in
Parliament now so if these remissions are put in
place, whatever you came into office with is
published and made transparent for every Ghanaian
to see that when you came into office, you had one
car but the in four years when you are going out,
you now have four cars,” she said.

“Then the people of Ghana will begin to ask how
you financed the four cars on the salary you are
on. Not just the politician but everybody in a
place of power should be accountable to the people
of Ghana,” she added.

Source - Citifmonline

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