An Assistant Professor at Ashesi University has said that if citizens refuse to speak out against corruption for fear of being given political tags, then the canker will fester.

He told an audience at an anti-corruption forum organised by pressure group Occupy Ghana that people must “…refuse to be silent because the silence will kill us if we don’t sit up.”

“The ship is sinking, but we refuse to allow it to sink,” Ansah said.

In her view, “one of the things that facilitates the kind of corruption we see in the private sector as well, is silence and if for nothing at all, this forum, this session needs to break that silence. [It] has to break that silence.”

The CEO of Axis Human Capital said the cost of silence could be disastrous for the entire country.

“If I’m going in for a contract and I put in my bid along with other people and somebody else uses the back door, greases a few palms, promises somebody a facilitation fee – what is it called, there’s another term – all sorts of fees: access fees are paid. I may be able to do a fantastic job, but I’m robbed of that opportunity – and it may be given to somebody who may do a very shoddy job – put chairs in a place where you sit down and it may fall apart and we can’t afford to be silent,” she warned.

She urged trade and professional associations to speak out against corruption and not watch aloof as the country degenerates because of corruption.

“The silence of individuals and institutions in the private sector bothers me. If we are in a country where deals are being broken, in a country where contracts are being given to specific companies almost every time, they are getting all the business, and the AGI remains quiet, there’s a problem.”

“Institutions have to start responding, breaking that silence, industries, AGI, pharmaceutical councils, the professional associations, the trade associations, we all need to wake up.

“If we sit and watch artisans create, but then see contracts sent outside – whether it’s the printing of textbooks for our secondary schools – there’s a whole history and story behind that – printing of textbooks for our secondary schools, producing of chairs for our parliaments, roads, name it, you can’t have professional associations sit silent…” Ansah said.

Others who also spoke at the forum are the founder and General Overseer of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC) Dr Mensa Otabil, legal practitioner Ace Ankomah and investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni.