Fallout of Anas’ Expose’ on the Judiciary: …does our culture fuel corruption?

The issue about corruption in our national discourse has over the years been dealt with in a ‘touch and go’ manner -- until the prying eyes of Anas and his Tiger Eyes team brought out on video what had been seen as perception in the Judicial Service over the years. Now, all issues about our country have been put on hold and everybody is talking about the ‘Anas Video’ and the alleged corrupt judges, and making it look like they are the only ‘sinful’ people in our land. Some have expressed their surprise and anguish and others shock beyond belief at what Anas and his team have brought out.

But over the years didn’t we hear stories and rumours of judges taking monies from litigants to tilt their cases? At least for all those who had ever bribed judges, what would be there to shock them from what we now call the Anas videos? The difference is that nobody ever came out with such evidence to prove the numerous allegations.

A colleague and I were chatting on the sidelines of an old students meeting about this topic, and what he said was spot on. He said that just as on TV we watch documentaries about the animal kingdom in which the animals -- oblivious of cameras around -- behave naturally, so were the judges and other officers in the Anas videos in their natural elements when they received Anas and his team to deal with them as they have dealt with other people who went to them seeking help to twist justice.

Since the Anas videos became public I have listened to several views and commentaries wherein most of the commentators seem to point fingers at certain professionals as corrupt but portrayed themselves as the holy ones. As has been alluded to by other writers and social commentators, can we as individuals and a people look into the mirror and say that we are above corruption?

As a people we have lived a national life of denial. We have defined corruption and deviant behaviour of all forms to suit us as individuals, and therefore do not see ourselves as equally guilty as others we judge daily per our definitions.

Corruption refers to dishonest or partial exercise of official functions by public

Officials (Independent Commission Against Corruption, 1998). Transparency

International (2003) defines corruption as the misuse of public power for private benefit. Misuse involves applying illegal and unethical standards. Some researchers define corruption from a behavioural perspective as the abuse of public power for private benefit (Park, 2003; van Klaveren, 1989; Heidenheimer, 1989). Svensson (2005) indicates that corruption can be a response to either beneficial or harmful rules.

In a paper on the relationship between culture and corruption by Ahmed and Saleim and Nick Bontis, they suggest that corruption appears in response to benevolent rules when individuals pay bribes to avoid penalties for harmful conduct, or when monitoring of rules is incomplete. Most considerations of the causes of corruption have been conceptual rather than empirical (Getz and Volkema, 2001). Ashour (2006) classified the underpinning factors of corruption into political infrastructure of state, economic structure, institutional infrastructure, and social/cultural infrastructure.

Until we all come to terms that we individually and collectively may equally be guilty and start dealing with how we have done things in the past, we may only be running in circles.

I saw the Director-General of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), Major Don Chebe (rtd.), share his thoughts after watching the Anas video: he said he was wondering how many organisations in this country including his (GBC) would come out clean if Anas visited with his camera. I found that not only profound but honest!

The General Superintendant of the Assemblies of God, Ghana --Reverend Dr. Frimpong Manso -- was also quoted in the Daily Graphic as asking a congregation in the Eastern Region where he did an investiture for a Regional Superintendent whether the church would not be found wanting should Anas go through churches with his camera.

Volumes of ink have already been poured on the hypocritical behaviour of our compatriots who have expressed levels of shock at the expose, and making it sound like these judges are not part of our Ghanaian society. Of course, judges -- being the last hope of any citizen looking for justice -- have been thought of as people who must be above board.

The thrust of this article is to point out that as Ghanaians our ways of life, our culture and value systems may have conspired to bring us to where we are today -- whereby the whole world now sees us through the eyes of the Anas expose as people who are corrupt.

The Cambridge English dictionary describes culture ‘as the way of ?life, ?especially the ?general ?customs and ?beliefs, of a ?particular ?group of ?people at a ?particular ?time’. Researching into the correlation between culture and corruption, Abigail Barr and Danila Serra of the Centre for the Study of African Economies, Oxford University (2006), wrote that culture is a set of beliefs and values about what is desirable and undesirable in a community of people, and a set of formal and informal practices to support those values (Javidan and House, 2001).

Beliefs are people’s perceptions of how things are done in their countries (House et al., 2002) and they are the reported practices in a particular culture (House et al., 2002). Values are people’s aspirations about the way things should be done; they are their reported preferred practices (House et al, 2002).

Some correlational studies have proved that some aspects of people’s cultures are directly linked to their corruptible bahaviour. Culture includes not just our way of life but our thoughts, folk-lore and proverbs. I have observed over the years that some aspects of our culture provide very fertile ground for corruption of individuals and public organisations.

The African close-knit culture -- wherein each is supposed to be ‘each other’s keeper’ -- has often been exploited and pushed people to breach the ethics of society. People seek favours from their brother’s classmate’s cousin’s friend etc. -- and the list goes on and on to the detriment of systems in organisations. How many Ghanaians have not won contracts, got jobs or got admission for relations through old schoolmates, church-members etc.?

For instance, one enters a banking hall where there is a long queue of customers waiting to be served. Once you enter and you have a schoolmate or a church-member working in the bank, you only walk to him or her and that’s it! But our society sees nothing wrong with that. Some evils like tribalism, nepotism, cronyism and several other ‘isms’ are accepted once the individuals who gain from them get what they want.

Benefitting from one’s relationship with people in authority is an acceptable norm in this country, so that any of these ‘big men and women’ who want to be ethical are branded as wicked people instead of applauded as principled citizens of our land.

I recall in the 80s, when the Ghana Railways Corporation was still functioning, there was a ticket inspector from my village who was ruthless with people who boarded trains without tickets. On some occasions he caught some people from our village and dealt with them to the annoyance of our village folk. Life became miserable for him when he retired, as his own family-members shunned him and he was attacked verbally anytime he was seen in public.

A story is also told of a senior police officer who retired as a divisional commander in his home district who suffered a worse fate, with the entire community rising against him because he refused to bend the rules to benefit his kinsmen and women who broke the law.

Some things I find that shape our values and behaviour, leading us into the temptation to be corrupt, are some of our proverbs. There is an Akan wisecrack for instance that translates into “no one looks on to be bitten by a dog when there is a stick or club available”.

The thinking behind this is that should one be faced with financial challenges like settling an urgent bill like a medical bill or children’s school fees, for example, there is nothing wrong with unilaterally using monies in one’s custody even if the purpose for the money will be breached. And this has led to misappropriation or misapplication of even state funds meant for community projects.

Also, such pieces of advice like “Why are you committed so much to this work, as if it’s for you?” or ‘This is government work, so don’t carry it on your shoulders” are all proof of corrupt and unpatriotic minds.

Another thing is that most of us refuse to accept that using our employer’s time for private ventures is corruption, so most employees -- including some executives -- report for duty only to disappear and appear elsewhere for some private gains.

We have a problem of distinguishing between ‘gifts’ and ‘bribes’. The other day I heard someone on radio comment that it was wrong for the ‘Anas judges’ to take bribes, because if they did their jobs well people could appreciate them by giving gifts. My reaction was: “What would let any litigant ‘appreciate’ a judge for a good job if it’s not for receiving some favours?”

The good book in Deuteronomy 16:19 says: “Thou shalt not wrest judgement…..neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous”. Taking and receiving of ‘gifts’ are part of us, and anyone who refuses a gift is rather frowned upon. Infact, it is offensive and unacceptable for anyone in our society to refuse a gift -- no matter the intentions of the giver. But we must start to deal with such issues as a people.

Over two decades ago when I did my national service at the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GHAPOHA), there were signs put across the port forbidding the giving and acceptance of gifts -- and I remember people complaining about that. I wonder if that policy is even there today.

One other observation is that we are a people with the propensity to live to please others even when it’s needless. So for example when you meet someone you know at the public transport terminal, you may feel compelled to pay the fare for the fellow even though that person came to board the bus or taxi prepared.

If we want to tackle the canker of corruption, first, all of us have to agree that it is not only a group of people who are corrupt or likely to be corrupt. We are all susceptible to falling if we are not determined to root out this destroyer of nations.

At a programme to admit new judges to the bench earlier in the year, the Chief justice made an appeal that friends and relations who were there to support should refuse to be used as conduits for taking parties in cases to their homes or offices to influence them.

If all of us, including the judges themselves, are to heed this advice and not influence colleague judges to favour people they know as parties in cases -- and the rest of us must also resolve not to entertain people with interest in cases -- then the Anas videos will be worth their purpose.

Various bodies including religious bodies must not lie to themselves that they have angels to deal with, so they can truly lead the crusade to fight this national disease.

On the whole, there must be a national consciousness to deal with this problem so that our children and their children’s children will not come and curse our generation.

Source: Thebftonline.com

By: Rev. Kojo Ackaah-Kwarteng ( The writer is a Journalist and lecturer, Jayee University College )