Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs as well as MP for Suame in Kumasi, has admonished Ghanaians to stop tagging politicians as corrupt but rather blame themselves for encouraging corruption.
According to him, monetary demands from citizens especially during elections push politicians to engage in dubious means to recoup their investments.
He made this bold declaration when speaking at the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs engagement with political parties on Monetization of politics in Ghana – A focus on Solutions.
“Next year our constitution will be 30 years and I believe it is time we take action before our people lose faith in the political class…there is nobody who enters politics who is a father or a mother Christmas…in politics you plant today, you will want to reap tomorrow, that is the reality of our time and so if a person is subjected to such huge payments and the person gets elected, his party wins, he is made a minister, contracts are awarded, what do you think will happen, let’s be realistic to ourselves and let’s not pretend…whatever you plant, you reap the same harvest.
“So when people turn around and blame the political class, you are introducing corruption in the system. When you met the person on the highway and robbed him/her of his/her possessions before allowing entry into that city, you think he is a Father Christmas. He gets there, you think he will not be looking to reimburse himself for the next battles ahead…so let’s not blame the political class because we ourselves are encouraging them by our own conduct.”
Source: TheBBCghana.Com
