Former Foreign Affairs Minister Hanna Tetteh has disagreed with Nadwoli-Kaleo MP Alban Bagbin that the political system in Ghana would corrupt even if Angel Gabriel is immersed into the country’s affairs.
Mr Bagbin told Bola Ray on Accra-based Starr FM on Wednesday 21 June: “Our tolerance level for corruption is completely unacceptable.”
He added: “We extol corruption and when you are in a crowd and somebody is doing something wrong and you want to point it out, you see that the people will run at you. … So that is an issue that we have to confront.
“We should all admit, we are all corrupt, it is a fact, because of the system,” he said.
In response to a direct question to him about whether he was corrupt, Mr Bagbin said: “Yes. Look, we have Reverends, we have pastors who go through the system, and they are corrupted.
“Because of the system we are operating now, even if you bring Angel Gabriel he’ll be corrupt. We treat public office in Ghana, particularly political office, as private property. We allow people to look for money from anywhere, anyhow, to sponsor themselves and it’s now very, very expensive to get into public office and then you say please save the public, not the sponsors; he who pays the piper calls the tune.
“And, so, we need to take a re-look at the whole process of elections. That is why this issue of moneycracy is coming in and I think that we need to regulate it and we need the state to play a serious role in what we do.
“To get into parliament now, depending on your constituency, you will not spend less than GHS1m. You’re looking at the T-shirts: they now will not take anything apart from Lacoste; you’re looking at the motorbikes, you’re looking at the pickups, you’re looking at the billboards… the system, what we do is not done in many, many countries.”
But reacting to these comments on her Twitter page on Thursday June 22, Ms Tetteh said she did not share the veteran MP’s assertions because “good governance can’t just be a mantra”.
She said: “Alban! I didn’t listen to the show & don’t know the context in which he said this but I can’t agree. Good governance can’t just be a mantra.”
Source:Classfmonline