Part 1 of 3: Transparency, accountability and consequence

Ghanafu eeiii! A content people, whilst quietly doing the needful. Individually we believe deep down inside, our day will come too. We seem to have fared well, and lived, largely, on hope. All by His Grace. Inshallah. And on the wings of prayer; faithful warriors, although we all have known how rampant the disease of corruption is in our houses of prayer, where we commit and spend an inordinate amount of time. The quest for breakthroughs, the fear of witches & the evil eye have propelled many to an unscrupulous man of God. Those have been our crutch, our governments have been MIA - missing in action. Accra is hard. Times are hard. Life is hard. Shun the company of those who roam amongst us, selling us political snake oil too. Our 2-party political system is doing us great harm. We have let Money, dark Money, no matter where it comes from, rule our politics to our detriment. We chose not to let the other flag bearers of the 21 political parties of questionable viability at the last count, also step in to say how they will remedy the course of the nation. Where have we 'put' our women presidents? Seen as an investment, sometimes prospective candidates standing for election pour in their life savings knowing the jackpot that awaits them at the other end. And we will pay the Piper, & be made to pay for that box of matches! There may be the shameless few who momentarily lose their dignity, succumbing to the lure of matches, BUT … We have countenanced CORRUPTION for too long. We have given it different euphemistic names. We have mostly joined them if we could beat them; I know, it’s tiring not to join them, to hold on to one’s principles, for too long, living at home amongst ourselves. We know the far reaches of corruption in our society. Token gifts rendered for acts appreciated have nothing to do with corruption. There is no confusion between what is a handsome, unexpected reward for a job well done and bribes demanded without which impediments are put in our way. Nepotism, job/institutional sexual harassment of women, misogyny, and discrimination based on class or ethnicity, all to varying degrees, are also prevalent in Ghana, and the world over. Corruption is not uniform across the subcontinent, which should tell us it is not uniquely Ghanaian. Neither is the western world corruption-free; theirs occurs in high places, hidden in plain sight. They have self-serving laws with all the legal loopholes, and mountains of paper documents one could get buried in. We do not have to go far to find examples. Donald Trump, of SHIT-HOLE notoriety and infamy, is a prime example for this generation. However, we all know as soon as Ghanaians find themselves abroad anywhere, it is as if the very word - bribery - did not exist in their vocabulary or their dictionaries. They can excel without any of that baggage. So corruption can be stamped out of the country. Where there is the will, there's a way. It can be uprooted, with the right systemic changes, based on transparency, accountability & consequence. These are long, long overdue. Those should be our new guiding motto, in addition to Freedom and Justice, for our national good. For our brothers and sisters, it is time to give up that deference to the one who is foreign, too. We have been gracious believing to assist the stranger, to be made to feel welcome in our land, but that can be done without going above and beyond, our very own. Can our prospective political leaders for 2024 demonstrate to us now they are up to the task of tackling corruption? Hold their feet to the fire ... now! I beg, figuratively speaking.