Renowned Business Management Consultant and Chief Executive Officer of Ishmael Yamson & Associates, Dr Ishmael Yamson, has stated that the level of corruption in Ghana is clearly depicted in the state of economic affairs as the country is left bankrupt when the tenure of almost every leader expires since the era of Dr Kwame Nkrumah.
The man who’s seen as a colossus in the private sector for his massive contributions to business growth condemned the incidence of vote-buying that allegedly took place at the just-ended presidential primaries of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP).
In his view corruption in Ghana has reached a crescendo and is growing by the day.
“For me, corruption if anything has grown. I mean we just went through the NPP primaries, and I was shocked, not only shocked but angry, that people will have the audacity to say, we paid 4,000 and some paid 2,000. So, our leadership is for sale to the highest bidder”.
The business icon was particularly concerned about how vote-buying fuels corruption when politicians get into public office.
The economist also blamed the role political party financing plays in the pervasive corruption in Ghana.
“Now, when that man or woman has paid all that money to acquire the position, to go to parliament, where is he going to get the money to pay back? I have a clip that I have been showing to people. Someone who has contested parliament and sat in parliament offered to say that yes we paid. My competitors paid, I didn’t pay that much but they paid and I also paid.”
“There’s no shame even about telling people that you got that position not on merit but only because you could raise more money, or bribe your way into that office. And he actually answered the question; ‘when I get there whose money do you think I am going to use but state money? I will make sure I get the money and pay.”
So, I think that we have a problem with corruption and we have to accept it” he noted
“Helping others to buy our votes will not in any way change Ghana. It will not change this country” he stressed angrily.
“This country, for as long as we have leaders who have come into office indebted to people and they have to pay them back, I am sorry. I am painting too bleak a picture, but it’s the reality” he mentioned.
He added that he will rate the current president, 4 out of 10 for corruption fight.
Dr Ishmael Yamson stated that President Akufo-Addo has failed to tackle the canker of corruption. He only singled out Ghana’s First President as one who stood against corruption, adding that all successive leaders and the incumbent President, have failed woefully, leaving the country bankrupt after their tenures.
“…Because even if you yourself as an individual have not dipped your hands into the state coffers, what about all your followers and what have you done about them?”
He criticized President Akufo-Addo for his commentary on the case involving the former Sanitation Minister Cecilia Dapaah, who stashed millions of cedis in her home.
“My greatest disappointment was when recently we had a case about a Minister who had so much money in her home, and the President said he hoped her integrity would be proven in the end. Why would the President even get involved in this when there are state agencies handling the matter?.”
“If you are our leader and you say you trust the person, how do you expect the people following you to go and say the person cannot be trusted; it’s not possible”.
“I don’t think he [President Akufo-Addo] has been able to stamp down corruption in this country; he hasn’t. Because if he has, then all the scandals that come up day after day, why hasn’t he taken firm action to deal with all those things and stop them? Why isn’t any of his people who have been found culpable not in jail?” he asked.
