Ghana: Corruption - the Silent Violator of Fundamental Human Rights

28 September 2020
opinion

The impact of corruption on development and enjoyment of human rights in particular is not in doubt. It denies individuals especially the vulnerable access to basic social services which otherwise would have impacted positively on their lives. Transparency International defines corruption as an abuse of trust for private gain. It is more often than not for the benefit of few individuals and their allies at the detriment of the general public. The devastating effect of corruption on society and individual lives is thus colossal in both tangible and intangible forms. According to Imani Ghana, corruption costs the country about $3 billion annually‒sometimes, more than how much is borrowed for development. This estimation by Imani thus highlights how much as a country is lost in terms of resources.

Human rights generally are universal guarantees for all people irrespective of one's ethnicity, religious, social, gender or economic status. Experts say that human rights are like armour which protects the individual; they are like rules which expect certain level of behaviour; they are also seen as abstract‒like emotions; and like emotions they belong to everyone; and like time -they treat everyone in like manner‒ whether rich, poor, old or young. As rightly articulated by John Stuart Mills "when we call anything a person's right, we mean that he has a valid claim on society to protect him in the possession of it, either by the force of law, or by that of education and opinion". The main duty bearer for human rights is the state. However, there can be no effective realisation of human rights without the role of money. For example, a credible election which realises people's right to vote cannot materialise without budgetary allocation for the procurement of electoral material and so on. Children cannot experience the best of education if government does not allocate resources for the construction of schools, training and employment of teachers, and provision of teaching and learning materials. Same holds for right to health care services and several other rights.

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