Our Greatest Danger, beyond Poverty, is Corruption – Victor Brobbey

The Deputy Chairman in charge of General Services at the National Commission for Civic Education, Mr. Victor Brobbey, has urged all citizens to respond to the clarion call to combat corruption, describing it as the greatest danger, besides poverty, we have had to grapple with as a people.

Addressing participants of the NCCE’s national dialogue, as part of activities scheduled under the “Strengthening the Rule of Law and the Fight against Corruption in Ghana” project, Mr. Brobbey expressed grave concern at the subtle but corrosive decline of the very values that underpin our democracy and shared humanity.

According to him, the provision of fertile grounds, either advertently or otherwise, for corruption to fester is a crisis of moral direction, undermining the practice of the rule of law, and serving as a threat to the observance and prevalence of true justice in the country. “Our revered institutions remain untainted, and there are stories of traditional authorities and religious leaders, who are supposed to serve as gatekeepers, demanding monetary favours before granting audience; how can we build a just society this way?”, Mr. Brobbey queried.

Corroborating these concerns was Mr. Kweku Lartey Obeng, a representative from the implementing partner, GIZ, who provided facts that painted the real picture of the nosediving course our morals and national values have taken. Mr. Obeng, in his address, indicated that in 2024, Ghana ranked 80^th out of 180 countries in the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index, with a score of 42/100, the lowest in five years. This, he emphasised, demonstrates the declining trust among the citizenry in the state’s ability to fight against corruption adequately. “The dialogue is thus an opportunity to create awareness, promote cooperation and transparency, and discuss strategies that can lead to the creation of an accountable and just society”, he added.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Chairman, Operations at the NCCE, Mr. Samuel Asare Akuamoah, in his closing remarks, pointed out that despite the public service's robust and bureaucratic system, it is unfortunate that some loopholes remain unsealed, allowing some public servants to attempt to cheat the system. He called for the law to take its course in such instances while advocating a more stringent ways to deal with perpetrators.

This dialogue by the NCCE is an initiative, which forms part of the Participation, Accountability and Integrity for a Resilient Democracy programme, PAIReD, which is commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), co-financed by the European Union (EU) and Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and implemented by GIZ.