FORMER President Jerry Rawlings of Ghana stressed the need for African countries to make efforts to eliminate corruption on Friday, saying it has eroded African values.
Rawlings made the call in Awka on Friday in a keynote address he delivered at the Second Zik Memorial Lecture, organised by Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka.
“Although corruption is a big challenge to confront, it is not a battle that cannot be fought.
“It is not a battle that we can afford to postpone if we want to avoid a sudden eruption as it occurred in Egypt and Tunisia,’’ Rawlings said.
He said that African leaders should carry the ordinary people along as they remained the greatest bulwark against corruption.
Rawlings said that to have an effective war against corruption, a review of Africa's political system was necessary.
He said leaders must demonstrate the courage to confront the earliest signs of the malaise before it became institutionalized.
Rawlings said that to have an effective war against corruption, a review of Africa's political system was necessary.
He said leaders must demonstrate the courage to confront the earliest signs of the malaise before it became institutionalized.
The former president expressed worry that many African governments were already being intimidated by corruption and its perpetrators.
“There is a culture of corruption reaching down to the very roots of our societies in which anyone with some kind of power uses it to extort money or favor from others
"Can we not redesign our systems to incorporate more of our traditional respect for consensus and the ideal of leadership, which looks beyond the next elections to the needs of future generations?
"Can we change the nature of party politics, if party politics is the only valid system so that each election is not a frantic and vicious battle between two giants?" he asked.
Rawlings said that the mass media would be vital in raising the campaign against corruption through forthright, investigative and focused journalism that would expose corruption.
He also said an impartial judiciary, which needed to gain the respect of the society, was also imperative.
"Can we not redesign our systems to incorporate more of our traditional respect for consensus and the ideal of leadership, which looks beyond the next elections to the needs of future generations?
"Can we change the nature of party politics, if party politics is the only valid system so that each election is not a frantic and vicious battle between two giants?" he asked.
Rawlings said that the mass media would be vital in raising the campaign against corruption through forthright, investigative and focused journalism that would expose corruption.
He also said an impartial judiciary, which needed to gain the respect of the society, was also imperative.
"The judiciary should de-link itself from political intrigues and must operate based solely on the dictates of the law and moral conscience," he said.
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