Corruption according to a Professor of Social Psychology at the Darla Moore School of Business, University of Carolina, Prof. Chris Yenkey needs to be confronted head on.
The Professor of Social Psychology therefore described corruption as a social disease that needs a vaccine.
Ghana, he believes can be a leader in finding the cure for corruption when the citizenry and government officials make a concerted effort to eschew the receipt and payment of bribes.
Prof. Yenkey made these observations during a public lecture organized by the Ghana Anti Corruption Coalition(GACC) in collaboration with Youth Bridge Foundation(YBF) in Accra under the theme: “Youth and Corruption: Demystifying corruption”.
Personalities present at the lecture included the Executive Director of Ghana Integrity Initiative, Mrs Linda Ofori Kwafo and Executive Director of Ghana Anti Corruption Coalition, Mrs Beauty Emefa Narteh and Executives of Youth Bridge Foundation(YBF)
Speaking further on the topic, the Social Psychology Professor pointed out, that it is immoral for the Police to solicit bribes as well as immoral for the citizenry to pay bribes to the Police.
Emphasizing that, most often the citizenry makes the attempt to pay bribe to the Police for fear of being charged by the Police.
“We know that the officer will demand it so I might as well get it over with; because the officer can take me to jail hence, it makes sense to avoid that harm even though it would be unjustified”,he cited
To this effect, the officer is immoral for soliciting but we are strategic for paying, Prof. Yenkey acknowledged.
Touching on other causes of corruption, the learned professor revealed that knit social groupings embolden the acts of corruption in the system and needs to looked at in the fight against corruption.
To him, research in criminology clearly reveals the dark side to close knit social group and strong community that, there is always less reporting of victimization in socially homogeneous locations, a situation he said emboldens corruption in the system.
“Social psychology gives us all kinds of reasons why we don’t blow the whistle on members of our close community, because we have so much at stake with our group or community’s reputation or identity; we hurt ourselves when we make it publicly known that a member of the community is deviant” he declared.
Small close groups he acknowledged prioritizes the interest of the group over that of the individual members adding, this puts the individual at risk of victimization whilst the group remains stronger and protective.
In his closing remarks, Prof. Yenkey was of the view that socially knit groupings are not a bad thing however pointed out there should be a peer review mechanisms amongst members to deter members from indulging in corruption.
This believes can go a long way to in our quest to fight corruption as an individual and a country.
Source: www.thenewindependentonline.com/ Ishmael Barfi/ senghna@gmail.com
