Ex-President John Rawlings has expressed concerns about how the high rate of corruption in the country is degrading the values of Ghanaians.
He observed that persons who hitherto would have abstained from corrupt acts are forced to join the bandwagon to make their day to day lives easier.
Speaking on an Accra based radio station, Adom FM, a disturbed Rawlings said, “now it is influence and buying that seems to be getting people through. This is not right.”
The issue of corruption in Ghana has gained prominence over the last four years.
[contextly_sidebar id=”0E9RDcYg3iTtt5iyy0ak4pUtpBIWXoet”]The Mahama-led administration has come under fire for its failure to fight the canker and prosecute indicted persons in the various major corruption scandals which have rocked the nation.
A series of demonstrations have been embarked upon by some pressure groups including the Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG) and Occupy Ghana to get the government to address the increasing corruption cases in the nation.
The President has however given the assurance his government is doing its best to bring corrupt persons to book and has also entreated Ghanaians to stand up against corruption.
Other key public figures including former Commissioner of the Commission of Human Rights and Adminstrative Justice (CHRAJ), Justice Emile Short, the Chief Justice, Georgina Woode, the Head of the Human Security Department of the National Security Secretariat, Brigadier-General Joseph Nunoo-Mensah (rtd) have all raised an alarm over the issue.
But some persons are doubtful about the government’s willingness to address the issue.
A private legal practitioner, Ace Ankomah has described the government’s “seeming” commitment to fighting corruption as a “joke.”
According to him, “people in the public office are influenced [to engage in corrupt practices] in the course of their job.”
Ex-President Rawlings is certain that the country “needs the political will to ensure that the right thing is done.”
He stated that “the injustice of corruption, the pervasion of corruption has a way of degrading people’s values.”
The NDC founder added that Ghana has the capability of becoming a “much, much better place if corruption can be contained…we are doing so much damage to this nation.”
By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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