Sir Sam Jonah has said Ghanaian governments have only been paying lip service to the fight against corruption.

In a speech to Rotarians in Accra titled ‘Down the up escalator – Reflections on Ghana’s future by a senior citizen’, the executive chairman of Jonah Capital, an equity fund based in Johannesburg, South Africa, said: “It has been said that the enclave that houses the lands commission, lands evaluation and title deeds registry is arguably the most corrupt enclave in the world”, noting: “It cannot be good for investment”.

“But corruption pervades all aspects of our governance system”, he said, saying: “A few years ago, a prominent member of parliament said publicly that parliamentarians take bribes to pass bills that favour their sponsors”.

“Ladies and gentlemen, if a fish comes out from water to tell us that the crocodile has one eye, who are we to doubt it? Incidentally, the said MP is now the Speaker of Parliament, Hon. Alban Bagbin”.

In his view, “our governments pay lip service to anti-corruption but do little substantially to cure the canker”.

“Which of the major corruption issues has been conclusively dealt with since the fourth Republic began?” he asked.

“There have been major corruption scandals and none has been conclusively dealt with”, he noted, noting: “I could give you a long list of unsolved corruption cases but there is no need to bore you with something you are all so familiar with”.

“As a friend of mine will say, ‘the problem with corruption is not the absence of laws, but the certainty of punishment’. Sadly, there is rather certainty that corrupt people especially in high places will never face punishment”.

“And this has bred impunity in those who would rather take it all for themselves through dubious means than serve the common good”.

“We cannot go anywhere if this situation continues. No country can develop without dealing decisively with corruption”.