Opinions of Saturday, 10 December 2022

Columnist: Joel Savage

Majority and minority MPs can’t enact a law to put corrupt Ghanaian politicians in prison, since both are corrupt

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If Ghanaians are unable to establish the proper punishment to combat corruption in the nation, the country's resources would be worthless and the people will continue to face severe challenges, including a high rate of unemployment, a collapsing economy, and increased crime.

The country's failure to prosecute corrupt Ghanaian politicians has provided dishonest and misleading politicians with an opening. They misled the unhappy victims by promising to combat corruption, only to show up and use it to their advantage.

It is true that "without a vision, the people perish," and the majority of Ghanaians are currently suffering as a result of missing something important. The poor are battling for equal rights, justice, and better living conditions, which have never been achieved, but they have neglected to fight for the country's dishonest officials to be put behind bars. Ghanaians must first work to get all corrupt politicians imprisoned if they want to end the country's extreme poverty.

Ghana has seen both good times and bad times under consecutive Ghanaian governments since the toppling of the legendary African leader Kwame Nkrumah. Since it is not a crime to be a corrupt politician in the country, but it is a crime when someone steals a fowl, a goat, or a sheep, the majority of Ghanaians live in extreme poverty, despite the country's abundance of resources, including diamond, bauxite, gold, oil, and valuable agricultural products, such as cocoa.

As politicians engaged in big corruption scandals are still permitted to hold public office, corruption has substantially expanded in Ghana and is now damaging all of the country's infrastructures.

They claim that Ghana is a democratic nation, but I don't believe them because democratic nations in Africa that follow the United States of America act in opposition to what America does in its war on corruption. We need to find out why corrupt American politicians are imprisoned while those in Ghana are not.

Solutions to problems exist, but they require the use of force to be effective. It's time for the poor Ghanaians to alter the country and improve their own lives because for too long, leaders in Ghana have treated the oppressed masses like fools.

If they don't, they will continue to live in squalor for the rest of their lives. Ghana must imitate the United States of America, by prosecuting its corrupt politicians and maintaining its claim to be a democratic nation.

The current government's accomplishments from 2016 to the entrance of COVID and the start of the war should be examined before Ghanaians are misled or persuaded that the country's current economic calamity was brought on by COVID or the Russia-Ukraine war.

Presidents that are prepared to serve the public lay out their plans and objectives after presenting them to the populace, but this government ran into several issues because the cathedral construction was prioritized above all else.

Many law-abiding Ghanaians wouldn't break the law, but the fact that some politicians were plundering the state and transferring large sums of money into private accounts inside and outside of Ghana with impunity, prompted them to start stealing whenever they could, which led to an increase in corruption in the nation, under this government.

Paul Adom-Otchere, Chief Justice Anin-Yeboah, Eugene Arhin, Charles Bissue, and other corrupt NPP officials are being permitted to continue serving the country without being held accountable for their crimes.

The wealth of Africa will be meaningless as long as dishonest politicians avoid doing jail time, making Ghana's independence meaningless unless it is connected to the whole liberation of the continent, as said by Nkrumah. Because the corrupt courts have often failed to imprison dishonest Ghanaian politicians, crime and corruption have risen sharply in the country today. Until corrupt Ghanaian politicians are imprisoned, the situation will remain the same.

It's wonderful that Ghanaians start their days by thanking and praising God or Allah; I also do this since, as humans, we require spiritual guidance to survive in this cruel and self-centered world. Unfortunately, the majority of Ghanaians still treat themselves poorly by depriving themselves of adequate living conditions. Even though Israel, the famous biblical nation, also has corruption, the government meted severe punishment to the offenders, which never existed in Ghana.

For receiving favors, Israeli politicians Moshe Katsav, Arye Deri, Tzachi Hanegbi, Avigdor Liberman, Shlomo Benizri, and Ezer Weizman were all found guilty of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was the target of the most recent corruption investigation. So, I'm sorry to inform Ghanaians that they are misinterpreting the Bible or the Koran if they believe that Ghana's corruption would end miraculously as a result of their prayers. They must act on their behalf.
At the same time, there are several corrupt American politicians, including the former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, who is currently serving a 14-year prison sentence for political corruption, so why the Majority and Minority Members of Parliament have failed to enact a law that will put corrupt politicians behind bars to serve time for their crimes when they are aware that corruption is the primary problem under-developing Ghana and depriving the people.

If the members of parliament, including the speaker, Alban Bagbin, believe they are doing a good job and are not working to ensure the survival of their political parties, they must ensure that starting in 2023, every politician involved in a corruption scandal is investigated, charged, and, if convicted, sentenced to prison. If not, I will continue to believe that the NDC and the NPP are the same because both are corrupt.