The Roots of Corruption–the Ghanaian Enquiry

Herbert H. Werlin

doi:10.1017/S0022278X00022370

The Roots of Corruption–the Ghanaian Enquiry

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 November 2008

Herbert H. Werlin

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In March 1970 Mr Justice P. D. Anin was named by the Ghanaian Presidential Commission, acting on the advice of the Prime Minister, to head a five-man Commission of Enquiry into Bribery and Corruption. Not only was it authorised ‘to study the area, prevalence, and methods of bribery and corruption in Ghanaian society’, but also to determine whether there were factors in the society which contributed to this. ’As a people, do we frown upon and resist bribery and corruption or do we tend to regard them as natural and inevitable?’, asked Anin at the first meeting of the Commission of Enquiry on 29 June 1970, adding: ‘Do we draw a line between the ‘customary drink’ under our traditional practices, and bribery and corruption of public officers and others holding positions of trust?“ The answers to these questions, it was hoped, would lead to recommendations for the eradication of these ‘social evils’.

Type: Article
Information: The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , July 1972 , pp. 247 - 266

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022278X00022370 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1972

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References

^{Page 247 note 1} The Ghanaian Times (Accra), 30 06 1970.Google Scholar

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^{Page 258 note 3} Ibid. 16 Jaunary 1970.

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^{Page 259 note 2} Akyea-Djamson, Report, pp. 47 and 108.Google Scholar

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^{Page 262 note 1} Omari, op. cit. p. 2.

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^{Page 263 note 1} Ibid.

^{Page 263 note 2} Bassa-Quansah, loc. cit. p. 49.

^{Page 263 note 3} Khan, Lawrence, ‘Towards Public Morality’, in The Star (Accra), 17 06 1970.Google Scholar

^{Page 263 note 4} Mends, loc. cit. p. 14.

^{Page 263 note 5} Ofusu-Appiah, loc. cit. p. 5.

^{Page 263 note 6} See Hayward, Fred M., ‘Ghana Experiments with Civic Education’, in Africa Report (New York), XVI, 5, 05 1971, pp. 24–7.Google Scholar

^{Page 263 note 7} Yao, Togbi, ‘Is Ghana a Star Gazer?’, in Sunday Mirror (Accra), 7 06 1970.Google Scholar

^{Page 263 note 8} Ibid. 13 April 1969.

^{Page 264 note 1} Afreh, Kwame, ‘The Proof of Corruption’, in The Legon Observer, 23 05 1969.Google Scholar

^{Page 264 note 2} ‘The Law's Delays, and the High Cost of Litigation’, ibid. 14. March 1969.

^{Page 264 note 3} See Werlin, Herbert H., ‘Elasticity of Control: an analysis of decentralization’, in Journal of Comparative Administration (Beverly Hills), II, 2, 08 1970, pp. 185–209,Google Scholar and ‘The Nairobi City Council: a study in comparative local government’, in Comparative Studies in Society and History (Cambridge), VIII, 2, 01 1966, pp. 183–6.Google Scholar

^{Page 264 note 4} Omari, op. cit. pp. 573–4.

^{Page 265 note 1} Ghana News (Accra), IV, 1, February–March 1972.

^{Page 265 note 2} ‘Party, Politics, and Corruption’, in Weekly Spectator (Accra), 26 02 1972.Google Scholar

^{Page 265 note 3} Daily Graphic, 11 Jaunary 1972.

^{Page 265 note 4} Ibid. 24 Jaunary 1972.

^{Page 265 note 5} Cf. Observer Notebook, ‘Bribery and Corruption’, in The Legon Observer, 11 02 1972.Google Scholar

^{Page 265 note 6} Sibidow, S. M., ‘They Preached Virtue and Practised Vice’, in Daily Graphic, 29 02 1972.Google Scholar

^{Page 266 note 1} Arhin, Kwame, ‘Urgently Needed – a Genuine Revolution’, in The Legon Observer, 19 11 1971.Google Scholar

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