Corruption is one of the famous words in Africa though the word Ebola is trying its best to gain popularity. Corruption is ubiquitous like air in Ghana, even on the dining table of the family there is a propensity of corruption to take place.
Give a Ghanaian a position and the next thing he will think about is how to amass wealth illicitly to the detriment of others. There is corruption in every space in Ghana; at the market place, toilet,
trotro, cemetery and every place where air passes. Corruption can be traced from different angles but I think the educational sector is a major sector to be considered. The SRC, ‘Self Representative Council’, College leaders and all other students leadership are some of the most corrupted unions in Ghana.
Could you imagine the amount of money they embezzle during hall and department week celebrations and socializing? The amount of “item1” they take to their rooms after every program? The number of exercise books they take when students are given two exercise books each? Most of our politicians who
we claim to be corrupt were once students’ leaders.
Becoming a politician in Ghana today is not about the in-depth of one’s knowledge and an
achievement acquired but is about the ability to insult and use provocative words. You just have to
join the SRC, NUGS, TEIN or TESCON and then start making the ugliest noise and you will eventually be awarded a top position in the country.
The level of corruption that takes place in the SRC, NUGS, and all other students unions is unprecedented. Students’ leaders loot huge sum of monies and no one seems to care about it and they eventually carry on with these moral character deficits to the national level.
I vividly remember those days in Legon when a meeting between students and the financial committee of the SRC nearly turned bloody. Vandals were pissed off with the way the financial committee was struggling to account for their expenditure. If the JCR of Kwapong Hall of Legon could request for bottled water, soft drinks and food for a 30minutes meeting, then you can imagine what they will request for when they become ministers and represent Ghana at the World Bank for a meeting; of course they will ask for the bones of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and the blood of all Ghanaians. This is where they start and when they become ministers and represent the country in a world cup tournament, they go and spend our money in “kenkey boutique” and when you call them to account for it they start sharing a full barrel of “elephant tears”.
During the campaign for SRC elections in KNUST, students are asked to join campaign teams with the promise of awarding them ‘Ketewa Bea Nswa’ (an SRC scholarship given to brilliant but needy students, financed through students levy). If they win the elections, a scholarship created to pay the fees of a needy student from say, Guru Natinga village, is now giving to friends, relatives, campaign team members, the freshest girls on campus, girlfriends, party members and even ghost names.
The KNUST SRC organizes an entertainment program dubbed “Fun City” and spends over GH¢ 60,000 on this one night program. Even if you have an IQ of “44 frogs” you should be able to judge that it was a useless program and a misappropriation of funds. Meanwhile, there are students in this school who cannot afford two square meals a day and no one cares about them. I can say vividly that there is high level of corruption among most of our students’ leaders ranging from class representatives to the SRC
and something must be done about it now.
I call for a probe into all the activities of all the various students’ unions in Ghana. Our educational system must be geared towards imbuing integrity, morality, honesty, a sense of patriotism, and the will to serve. Otherwise, in 2057, you and I will celebrate Ghana @100 with generators and our children will still be fed on school feeding program. We are not children of a lesser god, trust me, we are not.
