Ghanaians have lost values of hard work, integrity & patriotism – NCCE chief

The Chair of the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE), Josephine Nkrumah, says Ghanaians have lost their values including hard work, patriotism and integrity in the society.

She said almost everybody in Ghana at the moment is finding means of making quick money without working hard work.

She told Winston Amoah on 3FM’s Sunrise Monday that: “We have lost quite a lot of our values in Ghana. We have lost values of honesty, integrity. We have lost values of true patriotism, we have lost values of discipline and hard work.

“Today everybody is interested in making a quick buck or a quick cedi without putting in the hard work, without putting in the time.

“We are beginning to value material things above the positive values that we should live by.”

Touching on the corruption menace in the country, Ms Nkrumah said the fight against the corruption will not be successful if those caught in the act are let off the hook or treated with kid gloves.

She said if persons caught in the act of corruption are not reprimanded severely, it will serve as an incentive to others to also engage in the questionable act.

“If these people get away with these corrupt practices it makes it easier for people down the ladder to do things differently. So, I think we need to tighten the laws or the consequences.”

She also called for the effective implementation of anti-corruption laws in the country in order to deal with the menace drastically.

Ghana has adopted the National Anti-Corruption Action Plan (2012-2020) as part of efforts to deal with the problem.

Ms Nkrumah further stated: “We have the laws but it is more of implementation. I dint think we are enforcing the laws enough.”

Regarding the role of the media in the fight against graft, she said: “One of the reasons that we have is because we don’t wait to see the end of these cases.

“Sometimes media houses also play a role. So there is all the sensation about the big case of corruption but we don’t hear media following it through to the end. May be sometimes you would even have full implementation of the law but it is lost on people.”