The Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has decried the “irredeemable” level of corruption in Ghana, saying it is eroding investor confidence and stifling development.
The Asante Monarch lamented that corruption, which he described as “vicious and more corrosive,” has been institutionalised in the West African state and is threatening to “derail much of what Ghana has achieved.”
Speaking at the 19th Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Awards in Accra Saturday, the Asantehene said there is “mounting despair” because “we are all on what I call a corruption carousel.”
He said: “The community of international business and finance is expressing concerns that Ghana may be drifting to the tipping point of irredeemable corruption. Is there some salvation on the horizon? Not if you listen to the political class and the debates in the media. For them, corruption is not the issue.
“The issue is who is better at it, which party has been more corrupt. It tells us that we are in danger of coming to accept the inevitability of corruption as our way of life. And there is plenty of evidence that points in that direction.”
He stressed that the alarming level of corruption “is not something to trifle with. It is destroying business. It is undermining national governance. It is frustrating individuals. And it is eroding international confidence in our country.”
“We must accept that it is part of the problems afflicting the economy today and while we ponder over policy options, we must cry out for some act of courage to tackle the scourge of corruption, not on the peripheries but at the top,” Otumfuo Osei Tutu II stated.
Daily Graphic’s Mabel Aku Baneseh emerged winner of the Ghana Journalists of the Year 2014.
