A leading member of the National Reform Party, Dr. David Percy has stated that charging people with corruption in Ghana has now become a political tool.
According to him, political parties often tag their opposing parties as corrupt in order to achieve political gains.
Contributing to a panel discussion on Radio Gold, Dr. Percy said: “Perhaps we should frame this issue – the charge of corruption as a political weapon because often, the conversations that goes on about these matters assumes or suggests that it is neutral apolitical when it is not.”
Ghana has been battling to fight corruption following a series of high profile corruption cases which have hit the nation.
Several reports from Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) have been conducting surveys to determine the level of corruption in some institutions within the country.
A recent Transparency International report on corruption reportedly ranked Ghana among the most corrupt countries in Africa; an allegation the President has dismissed.
Dr. Percy however believes the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has been using accusations of corruption against the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) to help their cause in winning power in 2016.
He pointed out that “corruption has been a major issue on the national agenda for a very long time and it is not strange that the departing NPP decided to make it a major issue by tweaking it with the issue of competency so that consistently, they raised the issue of corruption plus the issue of incompetence. It has been a regular part of their mantra…it has remained a constant refrain.”
Such a practice, he said has the tendency of influencing people’s perceptions about a particular government.
Dr. Percy added that “corruption has always been at the top of issues with every change of government whether by the gun or by the ballot box so the issue of corruption can never be neutral or apolitical regardless of the wishes of the President.”