<<Print>>

Corruption continues to taunt us as a people, eluding all attempts to uproot it, the negative fallouts thereof notwithstanding. For the umpteenth time, it has come up for mention in many public discourses with politicians in particular restating their commitment to fighting and eradicating it from the public service and our body-politick. As a social aberration, it has not ceased sapping the energy of the state, something which could have been channelled towards tackling our listing development agenda. When the people lose faith in government�s commitment to fighting this cankerworm and sometimes suspect state appointees of being players in the widespread graft that appears to have enveloped the entire country, mistrust develops in the relationship with their employers. The mistrust which sets in results in their refusal to move along with government; sacrifice, which is an important ingredient in development and nation-building, suffers a major setback as people turn their backs on all government overtures to die a little for the country. It behooves the political leadership to, therefore, show all the qualities that go with leading the nation totally devoid of actions which smack of graft to attest to their sincere commitment to the cause of the country. Where there is quality leadership steeped in sincerity, the people, such as soldiers in an army, would listen and follow the orders of their generals because of their hope in a better future. The people, on the other hand, would turn their vengeance on the leadership when they see them as being the cause of their predicament and foresee a hopeless future. Ghanaian workers are being told to tighten their belts and brave the consequences of a so-called depleted public purse when indeed they are not responsible for the fiscal ill-wind blowing across the country today. So who is responsible for the muscle-less bone as represented by the empty public coffers? Ghanaian workers are not the minders of the throttle of state and should not be held responsible for the sorry state of affairs. It is amazing when government tells striking workers that there are no funds to pay their financial dues when they are not responsible for the anomaly. Declining to be blunt about the unacceptable state of affairs in the country is not an option for bona fide citizens. The pillage of state resources, the total disregard for budgetary estimates, as they are exceeded with impunity, is pestilent to the health of the nation, which is an incontestable reality. That is not the end of the pestilence: people have been paid whopping amounts of money for no work done as government throws more dust into the eyes of the citizenry. Workers would hardly listen to the leadership of the country under such circumstances, we can bet. The leadership has missed the point and continues to wallow in the self-inflicted pantomime, which is threatening the future of the country. Politicians in leadership positions have not made conscious efforts to learn from the many lessons of history but relish in committing the blunders which consumed their predecessors. How sad to observe that such politicians see themselves as being immune from the fallouts of the many financial faux pas they continue to commit. Regardless of the purity and soundness of their case, we would nonetheless plead that the doctors, pharmacists, university teachers, the list is endless, to temper their fight with mercy. Let them at a point ignore the insults being heaped upon them by government appointees and consider the suffering patients and others.