Ghana's Style of Probity and Transparency
24 July 2024 By Abiodun Kareem Giwa
President Nana Addo
Probity and transparency are the two elements required for accountability. People rarely feel to do the right where either is missing. The latter helps in establishing the former. Society requires them for progress. Resources are available for people's needs when dubious activities reduce to a bare minimum. These components are necessary to avoid unrivaled corruption. It comes to mind looking at Ghana's event where a minister lost a massive amount of money to house help, and no one can figure out the amount involved.
GhanaWeb reports Ghana's minster of sanitation and water resources, Cecilia Dapaah, and her family lost $1 million, 300,000 pounds sterling, and millions of Ghana Cedis, assorted clothes valued at 95,000 Ghana Cedis, handbags, perfumes, and jewelry valued at $95,000. The matter is already under investigation by Ghanaian police.
Good for Ghana that Dapaah has resigned from her position as a minister of sanitation and water resources. However, leaving the job did not resolve the dilemma in her case as a serving minister engaged in money laundering. News reports say Dapaah, in her letter to President Nana Addo, said the amount she reported to the police is different from the amount in the news. But she did not mention the amount in the police report, and the police have kept mum about the exact amount reported by the former minister.
Another news in the same section with Dapaah's loss is that Ghana's government is not fighting corruption. The first issue is that a government employee with integrity will not keep such a staggering amount in the house. Secondly, Dapaah needs to be more transparent; nothing would have stopped her from disclosing the exact amount involved in her loss than keeping the public guessing if she has a sense of purity.
However, Ghana deserves commendation for its ability to keep its currency competitive against the dollar compared to other Anglo-West African countries. The country's exchange rate is currently at 11 Cedis to one dollar. The government looks promising, making the country an economic hub in West Africa. Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Gambia don't have such a favorable economy. It is one thing for an economy to be big and have adequate management. Ghana, undoubtedly, is a big challenge to Nigeria in how to tend to an economy.
But Ghana will require minimizing incidences like Dapaah's keeping a considerable amount in her house, losing it to people more intelligent than her, and she cannot account for the amount involved. And there is no news of her cooling her feet in the dungeon helping the police to unravel the riddle.
It shows how deep or endemic corruption is in an otherwise economically blossoming country. Dapaah says her integrity will shine after the investigations. Really?
GhanaWeb reports Ghana's minster of sanitation and water resources, Cecilia Dapaah, and her family lost $1 million, 300,000 pounds sterling, and millions of Ghana Cedis, assorted clothes valued at 95,000 Ghana Cedis, handbags, perfumes, and jewelry valued at $95,000. The matter is already under investigation by Ghanaian police.
Good for Ghana that Dapaah has resigned from her position as a minister of sanitation and water resources. However, leaving the job did not resolve the dilemma in her case as a serving minister engaged in money laundering. News reports say Dapaah, in her letter to President Nana Addo, said the amount she reported to the police is different from the amount in the news. But she did not mention the amount in the police report, and the police have kept mum about the exact amount reported by the former minister.
Another news in the same section with Dapaah's loss is that Ghana's government is not fighting corruption. The first issue is that a government employee with integrity will not keep such a staggering amount in the house. Secondly, Dapaah needs to be more transparent; nothing would have stopped her from disclosing the exact amount involved in her loss than keeping the public guessing if she has a sense of purity.
However, Ghana deserves commendation for its ability to keep its currency competitive against the dollar compared to other Anglo-West African countries. The country's exchange rate is currently at 11 Cedis to one dollar. The government looks promising, making the country an economic hub in West Africa. Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Gambia don't have such a favorable economy. It is one thing for an economy to be big and have adequate management. Ghana, undoubtedly, is a big challenge to Nigeria in how to tend to an economy.
But Ghana will require minimizing incidences like Dapaah's keeping a considerable amount in her house, losing it to people more intelligent than her, and she cannot account for the amount involved. And there is no news of her cooling her feet in the dungeon helping the police to unravel the riddle.
It shows how deep or endemic corruption is in an otherwise economically blossoming country. Dapaah says her integrity will shine after the investigations. Really?
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