Monday, February 07, 2010
By Atsu Amegashie
In the past two days, Ghanaians have seen copious documentary evidence of what they already knew: there is a lot of corruption at Tema harbor and CEPS. The loss of revenue is several times more than foreign aid from international donors.
In the past two days, Ghanaians have seen copious documentary evidence of what they already knew: there is a lot of corruption at Tema harbor and CEPS. The loss of revenue is several times more than foreign aid from international donors. These facts came to light in Anas Aremeyaw’s latest investigative undecover work "enemies of the nation" which was shown on Multi TV and other TV stations in Ghana.
If Anas can go undercover to expose these corrupt activities, a committed government must be able to do so. Anas has shown that this is not rocket science.
An effective anti-corruption strategy will, inter alia, include the following:
1. The government should set up an anti-corruption unit that is primarily engaged in undercover work.
2. To reduce collusion between undercover agents and corrupt officials, split the undercover agents into multiple teams and make sure they don’t know each other. For example, two undercover teams could be assigned to the same task.
Of course, there must be a higher-ranking official (i.e., the overal boss; the ultimate watchman) who knows the identity of all the members of the various undercover teams. Without this information, s/he cannot successfully keep them as separate teams without them knowing each other. This means that there would be some officials who cannot fully be incentivized. We can only hope that they do the right thing. We cannot set up a system that monitors everyone (who monitors the ultimate watchman, the overall boss?). We need a few good men and women like Anas Aremeyaw. This part is rocket science.
3. Pay the undercover agents well. Subject to budget constraints, it is also important to pay government employees well and demand good performance from them.
4. Periodic rotations of the various undercover teams across assignments and functions.
5. The state must also win the confidence of the people by judicious investment of tax revenue in public goods
(health care, education, roads, etc). Taxes not spent fairly will not be paid fairly.
6. Taxes must be set at reasonable levels. Excessive taxation promotes tax evasion and corruption.
7. In the interest of fairness, not only lower level officials and bureaucrats should be held accountable.
Higher level officials and politicians, who are corrupt, must also be held responsible. Any perception of selective
or discriminatory justice will undermine efforts to fight corruption.
"Enemies of the nation" is availabe at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bslrn9J9NfQ
We need action.
Atsu Amegashie PhD is a lecturer in economics at Guelph University in Canada.