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At the launch of the Manifesto of the governing National Democratic Congress in Sunyani at the weekend, President John Dramani Mahama claimed his government had distinguished itself when it comes to the issue of fighting corruption.

He spoke as if he felt Ghanaians were not aware of how the canker of corruption had been elevated to ridiculous heights under his presidency, with the people having given up on his government as far as tackling corruption is concerned.

An Evangelist of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana has bemoaned the increasing tendency of some politicians to steal and misuse the nation’s resources for their evil financial gains at the expense of the very suffering people whose interest they claim to represent.

Evangelist Seth Darko has accordingly cautioned such politicians to repent of their unpatriotic acts against the people because they will face judgment.

We agree somehow with him when he posits that even if the laws of the land do not catch up with such politicians, the laws of nature will deal with them or they could finally face judgment from their Maker for stealing to make the lives of the masses miserable.

The evangelist also rightly pointed out that many politicians in the country now see governance as a means to amass wealth, other than using the resources of the country to enhance the socio-economic circumstances of the people who vote to put them into office.

It is therefore not surprising that we now live in a country where it appears there are no laws against corruption. This is simply because those who have the duty to ensure that the laws are strictly applied to check the act have constituted themselves into a cabal pursuing an enterprise of ‘create, loot and share.’

Their obvious criminal acts have far reaching consequences on the lives of the already suffering people. But as the architects and engineers of palpable fraud continue to conspire to betray the trust of the sovereign people of Ghana, we want them to remember that they are the first casualties of their own misdeeds, since they have irredeemably attainted themselves and their own families for many generations to come.

In the record books of our national history, they will forever be mentioned as the perpetual villains and nation wreckers on whose heads posterity will develop the pastime to utter a deluge of unspeakable calumniation.

As they stay awake in the night and grapple with their seared conscience, they will suffer a type of incurable psychological damage because they have murdered the soul of the nation, and therefore will never sleep in peace.

All societies try to develop means of fighting corruption because it remains the bane of many a community’s very survival. Corruption is an odious attrition against the very life of societies. Those who compare corruption to canker or cancer are not too far from right; it wreaks destruction on every society in which it is prevalent. That is why the fight against corruption ought to be seen as a fight for the very survival of our nation.

Interestingly, President Mahama who has woefully failed in tackling the corruption in his government has told the whole world that he considers corruption as a mass murder.

It is therefore clear that one cannot steal the people’s money and go scot-free: the act certainly has some consequences for the perpetrators even if the laws of the land are not activated to deal with them.