A former Auditor General, Professor Edward Dua Agyeman, has reiterated the assertion that the Ghanaian culture and religion provides conducive environment for the peddling of corruption.

Prof. Agyeman who was speaking at a roundtable discussion, organized by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) on Tuesday, August 15 on the theme: “Fighting Corruption in the Public Sector of Ghana: The Role of assets declaration", noted that among the Akans and some other ethnic groups in Ghana, refusal of gifts is seen as an offense.

“If you refuse a gift from an Akan person, it’s an offense, they interpret it as, you do not like them and so it’s an embarrassment not to accept a gift,” he explained.

According to him, giving gifts is backed by Christian and Islam religions.

Chapter 8:1 of the holy Quran, according to Prof. Agyeman mandates Muslims to give alms and proverbs chapter 18:16 also admonishes Christians to give gifts.

“To tackle this social canker, we as a people need to sensitize ourselves and differentiate from gifts giving and paying of bribes,” he stressed.