Value your personal and public integrity – Co-founder, iWatch Africa
Co-founder and Director of Research and Advocacy for iWatch Africa, Philip K. Banini, has urged the youth to uphold moral and personal values as ethics in fighting corruption in the country.
Mr. Banini, addressing the second cohort of the Annual Integrity School organized by the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), at the University of Ghana, said, corruption has become the way of life of the rank and file of society and the most threat to development and transformation of Ghana.
“We need to look at the value of personal and public integrity. No nation can develop if corruption is a way of life, for the rank and file of society. I remember having a conversation (a policy dialogue) with a minister of state and we were discussing reformations to curb corruption in the country. He looked at me and said he could appreciate my zeal and in some instance my naivety as we were discussing the subject matter and finally, he stopped me and said, my dear brother, the problems in our country are very complex. The problem of corruption is systemic. It is a way of life, very difficult to uproot and that is the challenge we face as a country. If on the other hand, integrity becomes a value that permeate society, Ghana will develop,” Mr. Banini said.
The Annual Integrity School was initiated in 2019 to instill in the youth, good moral principles of integrity, transparency, and accountability and create spaces for them to interact and engage on issues of anti-corruption in governance.
Funded by Global Affairs- Canada, the programme also aimed at building a generation of anti-corruption change agents or champions who would sustain the crusade against corruption and create an alumni network for continuous dialogue among beneficiaries.
This year’s programme was on the theme: “Promoting Integrity and Anti-Corruption Among the Youth.”
Mr. Banini advised the youth to unite with a common vision, and with the principles of integrity, transparency and accountability to drive the development of Ghana in the positive direction.
Other speakers who braced the event are Mrs. Linda Ofori-Kwafo, Executive Director, GII, Ms. Josephine Nkrumah, Chairperson, National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), and Mr. Richard Quayson, the Deputy Chairman, Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ).
To Climax the event, an inter-tertiary debate was held where Mr. Banini also served as a judge in the public debate between four public universities; University of Development Studies, University of Education-Winneba, University of Ghana and University of Professional Studies.
Credit: iWatch Africa
