It Is Now A Crime To Do The Right Thing In Ghana: A Case Of BOST

Since the re-introduction of democracy in 1992, Ghana has been contending with some issues that have derailed as forward movement as a people, chiefly amongst the issues is corruption.

At the inception of his administration in January 2017, president Akufo-Addo said “I shall protect the public purse by insisting on value for money in all public transactions. Public service is just that — service and not an avenue for making money. Money is to be made in the private sector, not the public. Measures will be put in place to ensure this”.

Despite this promise on the day he took the oath of office, his administration is cementing it enviable position not only as the most intolerable in the history of the fourth Republic, but also the most corrupt.

Wrong is not punished, but rather those who dare to be different and try to protect the public purse are thrown under the bus.

Power it is said is transient, no matter how long the New Patriotic Party (NPP), will be in power, a day will come and sooner, when a new party will take over.

Those with power today, who feel they are invisible, must remember that one day the people will have their pound of flesh and when that day comes, no one should shout of witchunt or political victimization.

Information available in the public space suggests that the Managing Director of the Bulk Oil Storage Distribution (BOST), George Mensah Okley , was forced out of office because he renegotiated downwards a deal that was initially supposed to cost the country GH¢4million to GH¢900,000.

According to Graphic online “A land grading contract sum, said to have initially been pegged at about GHC4 million by a contractor and approved by the company’s board was renegotiated to GHC90,000 after Mr Okley reportedly engaged a new contractor for the said land grading works, a situation deep throat sources say did not go down well with some people necessitating the need for Mr Okley to resign from the post.”

As a newspaper we are troubled by the weekly dose of acts of corruption that is characterizes this government.

In a report releases recently by Transparency International (TI) , it stated that about 71 percent of people living in Ghana say corruption has increased over the last twelve months. Ghana was ranked second behind South Africa, beating Nigeria for the first time.

For Ghana especially, stemming the nefarious activities that is going on in government is very important in order to stop further damage not only to the image of the country, but also the dignity of its citizens.