It didn't take long for them New government of John Mahama in Ghana to search out a dramatic technique to emphasize his commitment to combating corruption. On February 12, 2025 his special prosecutor explained The former finance minister is a “desired refugee” to go abroad to withdraw the survey for alleged financial irregularities agree later To plan a return.
In this one step, the federal government of the national democratic congress of Mahama sounded some well -known notes from previous campaigns. First, that the widespread graft defendant defends so many Ghanaians other partyIn this case, the brand new Patriotic Party in December was up to now. Secondly, this dishonesty and misconduct is most harmful in the event that they affect high civil servants.
The reality of corruption lives from normal Ghanaern is much more complicated. In the past 30 years of election democracy, each parties have been spoiled by scandal and misconduct. And in regards to the for much longer history of the country, as I do know intimately A brand new bookThe Ghanaians have complained in positions high and low over quite a lot of misdeeds in each private and non-private sectors over quite a lot of misdeeds.
Ordinary people have often questioned abuse, misdeeds and direct theft of the wealthy and powerful. They did it so well before the indigenous societies of the territory were subjected to Great Britain and included in its gold coast colony.
Based on mine Research In corruption in regards to the centuries -based history of Ghana it is obvious to me that the effectiveness of recent initiatives from below in addition to from above relies on the motion. Poor people feel the consequences of corruption and exploitation more acute than the higher. And when you are organized, you possibly can cause the authorities to make fraud and graft more energetic.
Pre -colonial anti -corruption actions
The strongest pre -colonial society was AsanteAn empire that ruled about an important area of what’s Ghana today. Sometimes the excesses and injustices of Asante's monarchs provoked turbulence, which were driven by anger amongst elites and odd people alike.
One, Coffee kothenwas dethroned in 1874 after he had violated defined norms by removing golden ornaments from a sacred mausoleum. His successor, Cafeteria bonsuled to a well-liked rebellion and was finally overthrown in 1883 by an alliance of Junior Aricistocrats and residents.
Meanwhile the coastal areas of populated by guys developed an institutionalized method to mainly ensure accountability. Defense groups guided by residents who were known locally as a lot of citizen functions were in a position to spend unpopular chiefs. In a ways ceremonies, the members confiscated a chief and pushed his buttocks thrice on the bottom.
According to the Ghanaian social anthropologist Maxwell OwusuPursue
Had a sacred duty to guard the interests of the broader area people against rulers or leaders who abused or abused their power.
They remained energetic within the early colonial era. In the Nineteen Twenties, nonetheless, the colonial administration restricted its powers to guard the chiefs who were willing to implement colonial regulations.
Echos of may very well be heard many a long time later. After a results of postcolonial administrations, Ghana broke out in widespread mobilization against corruption and injustice. The popular outgones from 1979 and the early Eighties were derived from two depths with a lower rank, which were led by the lieutenant Jerry Rawlings. Protesters remembered past traditions and sang war songs, defeated drums and employed other popular rituals.
Many of those activists didn’t consider corruption to be a failure of individuals in a high office, but as an issue that was rooted in Ghana's class -ready society. As a number one figure of the brand new Human defense committees Set it out in 1982:
Corruption … is the product of a social system and enriches a minority of individuals while it has the other effect on the bulk.
The government of Rawlings soon modified with western financial circles and domestic elites within the direction of accommodation. The defense committees led by young people were deleted and at last abolished.
The multi -part era
Radical social perspectives existed within the era of the multi -parties voting democracy, but not within the two mainstream parties. Both say they’re against corruption. But in response to critics and political scientists Common ageThey alternate within the helm to “control the state for private accumulation”.
Most official anti -corruption strategies ignore political disputes and social differences. And the usual international corruption reviews of Transparency international is essentially depending on external financial and investor reviews.
Afrobarometer research surveys offer a more comprehensive view. For example in 2019, Afrobarometer interviewer The Ghanaer asked whether corruption had deteriorated within the previous yr. About 67% of the individuals who lived in greater poverty stated that only 47% of the higher respondents thought. And although the poor respondents also quoted misdeeds from high officials, they often emphasized more tangible facets of their every day life, e.g.
Some corruption scientists see benefits to “fry large fish” to publicly reveal their seriousness. However, the Ghanaian governments have a protracted history to do that and look out of an increasingly skeptical public. In order to be more credible, anti -corruption campaigns cannot only appeal to the opposing party or only those on the heights of power.
Strengths and weaknesses
Ghana now has a lot of laws and institutions to combat transplants, fraud and other injustices. Some give attention to exposure and punishment, each through the regular dishes and thru institutions resembling the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justicewhich hears complaints hundreds of hundreds of residents yearly.
Some official measures stress prevention. High office holders have to elucidate the fortune of their families to make it tougher to cover illegal wealth. Mahama made his own Declaration of assets publicThe first president who has ever done this.
The government's anti -corruption measures have improved over time. But they still suffer from bureaucratic inertia and limited engagement. Therefore, many activists argue that it’s exclusively counting on politicians.
The effectiveness of recent initiatives by Mahama or other civil servants relies on the identical way as from above. After all, it’s odd Ghanaians who know where corruption she presses probably the most.
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