Celebrated freelance investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni has warned that if nothing is done to curb corruption in the country, the peace Ghanaians are currently enjoying as a democratic state is not guaranteed, noting that the country is doomed to descend into chaos if the canker of corruption and mismanagement persists.
Speaking at the 2020 Baah-Wiredu Memorial Lecture Thursday, October 29, 2020, in Accra, Mr Azure Awuni explained that injustice in the country caused by corruption and mismanagement shall be violently resisted if nothing is done to reverse the trend.
“Our democracy is not sustainable and our peace is not guaranteed if we continue to steal and deprive the youth of decent livelihoods. What happened in Nigeria recently should be a wake-up call and let no one say Ghanaians are too timid to rise up against injustice. We are harbouring potential rebels in our ever-swelling slums,” he said.
Mr Azure Awuni added that recent secessionist violence perpetrated by young people in the Volta Region points to the vulnerability of the youth with respect to unscrupulous persons exploiting their sorry plight to prosecute their devious agenda.
“I still do not know why an ill-crafted propaganda can lead young people to take over police stations and seize weapons in the manner we recently witnessed in the Volta Region. But I know that, the difference between a person who has nothing to live for and suicide bomber is thinner than a circumcision blade. Let us amend our ways and save this nation from the inescapable doom that awaits every corrupt and badly managed country, where the food for the masses is stolen by a few,” he explained.
Mr Azure Awuni called on the media to do more to hold public officers to account, asserting that the media is performing below average in its corruption fight.
He slammed the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration led by President Nana Akufo-Addo for campaigning against corruption in opposition, but engaging in corruption to dizzying levels once the party got elected into office.
This year’s Baah-Wiredu Memorial Lecture was put together by policy think thank, the Ghana Centre for Public Policy Options. It was under the theme: “Protecting the
