A former Rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Professor Stephen Adei, who made the call, challenged civil society organisations (CSOs) and the media to use the passion with which they were tackling the illegal mining menace to wage a relentless war against corruption in the country.

He said bad leadership and corruption among public officials were the bane of the country’s development, stressing that until such a time that concerted efforts were made by CSOs to galvanise ordinary people to resist those tendencies, the country would not be able to fast-track its development.

The exhibition, which captures significant events of 60 years of Ghana’s independence through the lens of the GCGL, is on the theme: “60 years of independence through the lens of Graphic”.

It provides an opportunity for the company to showcase historical pictures covered by the GCGL spanning the past six decades.

The photos on display include those on politics, rich Ghanaian culture, heroes in sports, the environment, the economy and the country's diplomatic relations with other countries.

A Deputy Minister of Information, Mrs Nana Dokua Asiamah-Adjei, officially opened the two-day event, which was patronised by people from all spheres of life.

Rationale

The Managing Director of the GCGL, Mr Kenneth Ashigbey, flanked by the Photo Editor of the company, Mr Douglas Anane-Frimpong, conducted Mrs Asiamah-Adjei and other patrons round the photo stands.

Prof. Adei said the country’s leadership after independence was not development-oriented and so it left a legacy of strong men operating in weak institutions that were used to breed corruption.

“It is not surprising that we are confronted with an unprecedented bunch of greedy people in leadership who must be confronted by all well-meaning Ghanaians if we have to develop.

“The same passion and commitment with which CSOs and the media are tackling the galamsey menace should be transferred to fight bureaucratic corruption if we have to develop as a country," he stressed.

He observed that the structures of leadership at all levels ought to be strengthened to ensure that the next generation of leaders was empowered to provide quality and selfless leadership.

“We cannot continue to have the situation where people in leadership who negotiate contracts on behalf of the state inflate the cost and siphon the country’s resources. We should not be having a situation where politicians sit in Parliament and trade arguments as to which side of the House is more corrupt than the other,” he added.

Youth empowerment

He said the way forward in dealing with the leadership challenge of the country was for deliberate structures to be put in place to tap into the potential of the youth to challenge the status quo.

Prof. Adei also underscored the need for the current generation to use social media and other modern technologies as tools to track and monitor the performance of leaders to ensure accountability and the judicious use of national resources.

“We are in the 21st century where technology and relevant information tools can be deployed to make it difficult for politicians and leaders to be corrupt, so let us take advantage of them,” he said.

Founder(s) debate

Wading into the ongoing debate on the founder(s) of Ghana, he said there was no way Dr Kwame Nkrumah could be touted as the founder of the country.

“Let us all get it clear that Dr Nkrumah is a founding father of Ghana; he did not found it. The United Gold Coast Convention was an existing organisation with people who were putting up the independence struggle. Dr Nkrumah was smart enough to outsmart the old guys. So we need to know that some people started the struggle and brought Nkrumah to be part of it. How, then, can he be described as the founder of the country?” he quizzed.

Way forward

Panellists at the photo exhibition event shared in Prof. Adei’s view that the bane of the country’s development were bad leadership and official corruption.

In separate statements, they underscored the need for collective efforts by all stakeholders to change the narrative by getting involved in processes that would hold leaders accountable for the resources entrusted in their care.

A fellow of the Young Africans Leadership Initiative (YALI), Mr Richard Apau, called on the government to invest in the youth to build their leadership potential for the future.

“A country that fails to spend its resources on the younger generation will be left with no choice but to spend it on insecurity and insurgencies,” he said.

The Chairperson of the Volta Regional Lands Commission and fellow of YALI, Mama Dzidoasi I, called for a blend of traditional and contemporary leadership, saying that was the way forward to groom a generation of leaders who would be abreast of all manner of development issues.

Another fellow of YALI, Mrs Jacqui Oyimer, described the current level of youth unemployment in the country as a time bomb and said it would take effective leadership to address the challenge.