Ghanaian entrepreneur and investor Dr. Sangu Delle has said that corruption in Ghana’s political system has become deeply structural and cannot be solved by mere condemnation or rhetoric.
Speaking on PanaGeniusTV, a YouTube channel monitored by KumasiMail’s Northern Regional Editor, Delle argued that the design of the country’s political economy almost forces politicians into corrupt behaviour because of how campaigns are financed and how citizens relate to elected officials.
“I believe that one of the biggest reasons for the unprecedented loss in the last election was around ORAL (Operation Recover All Loot). People were deeply angry and they wanted justice,” he said. “When you take public resources, that is what you are depriving people of. People die. When you loot and pillage, there is blood on your hands.”
He said corruption in Ghana is not abstract but has direct and devastating effects on communities. “In Nandom, my constituency, we don’t have any proper emergency room. We didn’t even have oximeters until my foundation donated them,” he said. “There are schools with one teacher teaching multiple classes, no furniture, no textbooks. That is the consequence of corruption.”
Delle explained that campaign financing in Ghana creates a political debt that fuels corruption. “In Ghana, we do not invest in our democracy. Instead, we have a small elite class, the oligarchs and business people, who fund campaigns,” he said. “When the politician wins, he does not owe the voter. He owes those who financed him, and that is the interest he responds to.”
He urged citizens to take ownership of their democracy by contributing to political campaigns and demanding accountability. “If we want good government, we must be prepared to take a stake in our democracy and invest in it,” he said, comparing Ghana’s system unfavourably to Barack Obama’s grassroots campaign model in 2008 that was funded by millions of small donors.
According to Delle, Ghana’s two-party system and winner-takes-all politics also worsen the situation, as new administrations often abandon ongoing projects and replace them with new ones.
“The problem we have is not lack of options,” he said. “The same issues exist across the board. If you just say you are tired of NPP and NDC without a clear blueprint for reform, you will not solve anything.”
He said real change requires bipartisan national consensus, particularly in reforming the civil service, which he described as a “political kryptonite” that no government wants to touch. “We have to reform it,” he said. “The only way we can do that is by taking a bipartisan national approach.”
Delle also proposed legalising and regulating lobbying as a transparent way to manage political influence. “Let us institutionalise lobbying and make it transparent. You tax it and make it open,” he said. “Instead of people bribing to get contracts, you can create a system where professionals help others navigate the process legitimately.”
He cautioned that Ghana’s current political setup makes it difficult for honest politicians to survive. “Because the state has not solved the socioeconomic problems of the people, everyone runs to the MP with school fees, hospital bills and other issues,” he said. “If the MP does not help, he loses the next election. We have almost forced them to be corrupt.”
Delle concluded that tackling corruption in Ghana requires structural reforms, citizen participation, and honest national dialogue. “If we just keep saying end corruption without addressing the design of our politics, we will not solve the problem,” he said.
Source: www.Kumasimail.com/JosephZiem
