The author, Dominic Senayah.
A nation’s youth pay the price as complicity becomes currency and honesty turns rare*
In the bustling markets of Accra, where hawkers weave between stationary traffic and the air hangs thick with exhaust and ambition, a peculiar transaction unfolds daily. It is not the exchange of goods or services that catches the eye, but rather the quiet acceptance of what should be unacceptable, the normalisation of corruption that has become as commonplace as the morning call to prayer.
Ghana, once hailed as the beacon of African democracy, now finds itself grappling with a crisis that extends far beyond economics or politics. It is a crisis of conscience, where the line between right and wrong has been so repeatedly crossed that many no longer recognise its existence. The question that haunts every honest conversation is simple yet profound: When did we become so comfortable with dishonesty?
The Anatomy of Complicity
The evidence surrounds us with uncomfortable persistence. In government offices where civil servants openly demand “facilitation fees” for services that should be free. In police checkpoints where uniformed officers shake down motorists with practised ease. In universities where grades can be purchased as readily as textbooks. These are not isolated incidents but systemic features of a society that has gradually surrendered its moral compass.
Consider the romance scams that have made Ghana infamous in international cybercrime circles. Young men, often university graduates, orchestrate elaborate deceptions targeting vulnerable individuals abroad. When confronted, the response is frequently a shrug of resignation rather than condemnation. “What choice do they have?” becomes the refrain, as if economic hardship provides absolution for emotional exploitation.
This rationalisation reveals the deeper pathology. We have created a parallel moral universe where criminal behaviour is contextualised, explained away, and ultimately forgiven. The romance scammer becomes an entrepreneur. The corrupt official becomes a pragmatist. The drug dealer becomes a businessman. In this inverted reality, those who refuse to participate are labelled naive rather than principled.
The Price of Silence
The cost of this collective complicity is measured not merely in stolen resources or damaged reputations but in the systematic disenfranchisement of an entire generation. Ghana’s youth, educated and ambitious yet economically marginalised, find themselves caught between their principles and their prospects. They witness daily the rewards that accrue to those who abandon integrity, whilst honest work yields diminishing returns.
KWame, a 28-year-old accountant in Kumasi, embodies this dilemma. Despite his qualifications, he earns less in a month than some of his contemporaries make in a single fraudulent transaction. “I watch my friends buying cars whilst I struggle to pay rent,” he confides. “Sometimes I wonder if I’m the fool for playing by the rules.”
This sentiment echoes across university campuses, in youth gatherings, and the quiet conversations of families grappling with moral choices. When integrity becomes a luxury that only the privileged can afford, society has already lost its way.
Institutional Decay
The rot extends deep into Ghana’s institutional framework. Government ministries operate with a brazenness that would have shocked previous generations. Public contracts are awarded not on merit but on relationships. Development projects become opportunities for personal enrichment rather than national advancement. The very institutions meant to serve the people have been repurposed to serve themselves.
The judicial system, once respected for its independence, now faces questions about its integrity. High-profile corruption cases drag on indefinitely, witnesses disappear or recant their testimonies, and verdicts often seem predetermined by factors beyond evidence or law. When justice becomes negotiable, the rule of law becomes a fiction.
Police officers, tasked with maintaining order and protecting citizens, have themselves become sources of insecurity. Extortion at roadblocks has become so routine that drivers budget for these unofficial tolls. Drug dealers operate with impunity, often enjoying protection from the very forces meant to arrest them. The thin blue line has become a porous membrane through which criminality flows freely.
The Economics of Dishonesty
Ghana’s economic stagnation cannot be divorced from its moral decline. Corruption distorts markets, discourages investment, and redirects resources from productive uses to private pockets. When government contracts are inflated by thirty to forty per cent to account for kickbacks, taxpayers bear the cost whilst receiving diminished value.
Foreign investors, initially attracted by Ghana’s democratic stability, increasingly factor corruption into their risk assessments. The country’s reputation, once its greatest asset, has become a liability. International partnerships require additional oversight and verification, increasing transaction costs and reducing competitiveness.
The underground economy, fuelled by proceeds from drug trafficking and other illicit activities, creates parallel financial systems that operate beyond regulatory oversight. Legitimate businesses struggle to compete with enterprises funded by criminal proceeds, creating a vicious cycle where honest commerce becomes increasingly disadvantaged.
Digital Frontiers of Fraud
The internet has provided new avenues for old crimes, and Ghana has unfortunately become a global hub for cybercrime. Romance scams, business email compromise, and advance fee fraud have made “sakawa”—the local term for internet fraud—a household word. What began as an individual criminal enterprise has evolved into sophisticated networks that rival traditional organised crime syndicates.
These operations are not confined to dark corners of society but operate openly in internet cafes, universities, and even secondary schools. Young people, seeing few legitimate paths to prosperity, increasingly view cybercrime as entrepreneurship. The moral dimension is further eroded by the international nature of these crimes—victims are faceless foreigners whose suffering seems abstract and distant.
The normalisation of sakawa represents perhaps the starkest example of Ghana’s moral drift. Criminal activity is celebrated, successful fraudsters become role models, and victims are dismissed as deserving of their fate. This inversion of values cuts to the heart of the nation’s identity crisis.
The Generational Divide
Older Ghanaians often express bewilderment at the current state of affairs. They recall an era when integrity was valued, when shame still carried weight, and when community pressure could deter wrongdoing. Today’s youth, they argue, lack the moral foundation that previous generations took for granted.
Yet this analysis misses a crucial point: the current generation did not create these conditions but inherited them. They entered adulthood to find systems already compromised, institutions already captured, and pathways to success already blocked by corruption. Their moral pragmatism may be less a character flaw than a rational response to structural realities.
The challenge lies not in condemning the youth for their choices but in creating conditions where integrity becomes viable again. This requires more than sermons or slogans—it demands fundamental restructuring of incentives and opportunities.
The Path Forward
Ghana’s redemption will not come through denial or deflection but through honest confrontation with uncomfortable truths. This begins with acknowledging that corruption is not a victimless crime but a theft from the nation’s future. Every bribe paid, every contract inflated, every position sold represents resources stolen from development, opportunities denied to the deserving, and progress deferred indefinitely.
The solution requires simultaneous action on multiple fronts. Legal frameworks must be strengthened and enforced consistently, regardless of the perpetrator’s status or connections. Institutions must be reformed to reduce opportunities for corruption whilst increasing transparency and accountability. Most importantly, society must rediscover its capacity for moral outrage.
Citizens must abandon the comfortable fiction that corruption is an inevitable feature of governance. They must reject the notion that everyone is complicit, so no one is responsible. They must demand better from their leaders whilst holding themselves to higher standards.
This transformation will not be easy or quick. Entrenched interests will resist change, and the benefits of reform may not be immediately apparent. But the alternative—continued decline into a failed state—is unacceptable for a nation with Ghana’s potential and history.
Conclusion: The Moment of Choice
Ghana stands at a crossroads that will determine not just its immediate future but its legacy to subsequent generations. The choice is stark: continue the descent into moral relativism and economic stagnation, or summon the courage to confront the hard truths that everyone knows but few dare speak.
The youth of Ghana deserve better than a nation that rewards dishonesty and punishes integrity. They deserve institutions that serve them rather than exploit them. They deserve a society that offers legitimate paths to prosperity rather than forcing them to choose between principles and survival.
This transformation begins with individual courage, the decision to name wrongdoing regardless of personal cost, to refuse participation in corrupt systems regardless of immediate advantage, and to demand accountability regardless of social pressure. It continues with collective action, communities that ostracise rather than celebrate criminality, institutions that prioritise service over self-enrichment, and leadership that exemplifies rather than exploits.
Ghana’s founding fathers envisioned a nation that would be a light unto Africa and an example to the world. That vision remains achievable, but only if current generations find the moral courage that their circumstances demand. The time for comfortable complicity has passed. The moment for moral reckoning has arrived.
The question that remains is whether Ghana will seize this moment or let it slip away into the comfortable darkness of continued decline. The answer lies not with politicians or preachers, but with every citizen who must choose daily between convenience and conscience, between personal gain and public good. In aggregate, these individual choices will determine whether Ghana fulfils its promise or forfeits its future.
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DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
