Traditional values an option for anti-corruption drive — Part 2

Human beings, whether Black, so-called white (because in my opinion, they are more pink than white), yellow or whatever colour, have a tendency for doing the wrong thing. This is why laws and regulations are created to shape mindsets and help people to conform to right attitudes. Left alone, you will be surprised at the things you will see in society.

We often hear elderly people saying, “In our days, children were very submissive. They were very obedient and valued morality.” What they normally do not add is the enforcement regime that existed in those days, where truants could be chased after and brought to school, and teachers would beat the hell out of you by way of lashes. The shame and pain were enough motivation to reform truants. There must be examples of people being punished for corrupt acts, and the punishments must be severe enough to serve as a deterrent to others.

A WhatsApp video I watched recently convinced me that going back to our traditional values is one of the best options for fighting corruption. A journalist was interviewing people at random and asking them a specific question and getting their responses.

A young lady was asked by the journalist, “Do you have a boyfriend?” and she said “Yes.” She then asked her, “Have you ever cheated on your boyfriend?” and her response was “No.” She then repeated the question, and she still insisted that she had never cheated. Then she took a fly whisk, what we call ‘Bodua’ in our local Twi language, and gave it to the lady and asked her to hold it, and then asked her the same question again — and the lady changed her answer. She changed from “no” to a “yes.”

The ‘Bodua’ had some cowries, which is called ‘sedee’ in the local language, and it brought fear into her, compelling her to admit to what she had done in secret. When she realised that there were dire consequences that could be imminent against her, she decided to tell the truth.

The colonial masters did all they could to let us throw away our traditional values by persuading our grandparents to believe that those values were idol worship. Drums were prohibited as part of Christian worship, with the explanation that it was idolatry. The true intention behind all these things was to convince our forefathers that our values were evil, so they would accept the European values in order to create conditions favourable for the Europeans to manipulate them.

The objective clearly was to gain control over the African in order to loot our resources without pushback. As a result, anti-social acts like bribery and corruption in general gradually started creeping into our society because our forebears started practising “and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” as the way to go, instead of Tegare dispensing instant justice, which caused people to conform to acceptable societal behaviour.

It is my candid opinion, based on observation over the years, that if we are serious about fighting corruption in this country, then the option of incorporating some of our traditional practices into our governance architecture needs to be given serious consideration.

We have observed this Christian belief of punishment by God in a distant future in heaven for far too long. It has not brought us any benefits; the corruption is on the increase. Let us incorporate some of our traditional values to compel Ghanaians to conform.

Insanity, they say, is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. God bless.

NB: ‘CHANGE KOTOKA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO KOFI BAAKO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT’

By Laud Kissi-Mensah

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