Part 1

Introduction

If there is any corrupt practice in our dear country that has not received much
attention as compared with bribery, smuggling etc., then it is the “whom you
know network” (WYKN). It is a corrupt practice that has its own system or
network, language and or terminologies. In my opinion, it is the bane of all
corrupt activities. As the phrase or name suggests, you must know or be known by
someone who knows another individual to aid you to secure a favour. It is the
most common but dubious channel to secure employment andor services in the
country lately as against the competitive bidding process of obtaining
particularly employment. It occurs in every society and established institutions
with varying levels of immensity.

The origin of this practice cannot be traced and as such can not be limited to
one group of people, race, colour, creed etc. However it can be attributed to
the abuse of privileges accorded to officialdom and some highly placed
individuals in the society; in that, as an example, in recruiting applicants for
the Army, there is a quota of applicants that must be considered with or without
merit from some top officials in Government and other distinguished individuals
in Society. By this practice those below the rank and file of the Institution
are encouraged by the situation and so adopt this kind of way to get cronies
mostly without the requisite qualifications to obtain certain favours and or
jobs. When we fail to be good examples we should be sure that we gave no example
or have been bad examples to others.
Favours such as employment appointments, transfers, promotion, examination
malpractices, twisted verdict in the Court, preparation of legitimate land
documents to undeserved owners, Passports, Licenses, etc. The WYKN has various
outlooks since it is orchestrated under the whims of ethnic or tribal,
religious, political and social affiliations.
Some prefer to call it “links”, “connections” “networking” “Movements” etc.
Those at the helm of this practice are given certain titles depending on the
gravity of work involved in what one is to “link” the other to. So you hear
titles such as “Nana”, “Osagifo”, “Amega”, “Nyebro”, “Orgboro” or “Orgborlor”
“Borsu” etc, sometimes the names or nicknames of the most notorious criminals in
the society were given to them.

You can take a good look at the unarmed and harmless “Atta Ayis”, “Tagors”,
“Kombians” etc., and you have extremely little or no reason to trust them. As
for the appellations, the least said the better. If you were the type who often
come clean on your “deals” or left no traces you got the title “Champion”,
“Killer”, “Chief” “General” or “Captain”.
The WYKN creates opportunities for other corrupt practices because the elements
in the network are bribed or demanded the satisfaction of certain conditions
mostly in the payment of money than in kind. As we begin to hear and see the
flourishing activities of homosexuals, the focus on satisfying conditions in
kind which mostly characterized women using their “bottom power”, would also
culminate into the engagement of young men in areas such as the above before the
“deal” is completed. This reminds me of the proverbial “fa woto begye Gulf”.
Sometimes the task of the “Champion” was to get a legitimate occupant or
official in a particular social Institution out so as to make way for another;
but that is to the extreme. Ghana’s cheap labour situation is a refreshing
factor that fertilizes and grows the network; because, it (WYKN) left only two
options for the applicant both to accept and take the conditions or leave them,
therefore to succumb to the conditions,becomesa hard or simple decision for
whoever was in dire need of employment and or service.

When people are over burned, frustrated and depressed including avaricious
people, they fall to all sorts of schemes and vices. The unnecessary pressure
that some families exert on their unemployed youth and the insatiable desire for
riches and desire to eschew proper procedure and make way for gentle and
pleasurable living sometimes underpin this vice.

Today, most People believe that to secure some appointments one could just have
to pay or satisfy certain nefarious conditions. Remember, not every individual
would accept a bribe or accept any token for a good deed done; but in the (WYKN)
money is a sine qua non.
The (WYKN) from my experience can be defined as: an unacceptable act of
introducing an individual or group of individuals under various guises to
another individual and or a number of individuals to earn, secure, procure,
obtain and or gain an undeserved attention, advantage, engagement or service
after satisfying certain parochial conditions. In this network, there are the
agents, the facilitators and beneficiaries.

The introduction could be done formally (thus by a letter) or by the orthodox
way of conveying the individual(s)-beneficiary by the hand to the office of the
facilitator or to the home. Sometimes it is done on the telephone or cell phone
and via the internet.
Partaking in this often unavoidable practice is extremely expensive when the
facilitator would work at a cost. It is a prevailing practice that has incurred
the displeasure of the custodians of good morals, values and virtues in the
society.
The nature of this phenomenon in the area of employment begins like this: when
there is a vacancy, as may be published in the papers or relayed by the agent,
the Personnel or Human Resource Manager together with the final authority
responsible for employment knows what conditions to present as per any applicant
having been introduced; so as the applicant follows the normal procedure of
submitting an application for the job included with his/her relevant documents
which may or may not satisfy the Institutional requirements, if the applicant
succumbed to the tenets of the agents or facilitators in the WYKN, either the
applicant is made to produce an additional copy of his/her documents, or the
earlier submitted one was tagged or separated from the lot for “special
treatment.” Behind the scenes after the above, the agents continued to impress
upon the applicant to fully satisfy the conditions if he/she had not done that.
Interestingly, the content of the conditions vary as regards the sexes of the
applicants. Males are made to pay huge sums of monies before
consideration.Sometimes for a specified period of time, the successful applicant
would have to share his/her salary or wages with the facilitator(s). The females
regrettably sometimes, do not only pay monies as the males do but per the
conditions would have to engage the lecherous facilitator(s) sexually, whose
condition strategically comes up when the “deal” is 99% done. Unfortunately
sometimes the females do not even secure the appointment but pay with their
bodies. The trend is changing with the influx of homosexuals. Undoubtedly, the
question is if the males are paying with their bodies?

Mostly, it constitutes facilitators numbering from three (3) to five (5) or more
especially when there is a panel to conduct an interview for those short listed.
What is worrying about this practice is that even if you met the needed
Institutional requirements you were made to honour the hard conditions otherwise
the vacant position was given to another applicant who was ready to act
accordingly. watch out for part 2

By: Jairzmical Carbonation
jairzmical@yahoo.co.uk