Transparency International Ghana (TI-G), formerly Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) has held a training session for Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and media personnel in the Ashanti Region, on Corruption and Gender Dimensions of Corruption.
The training, under the “Participation, Accountability and Integrity for a Resilient Democracy (PAIReD)” project, implemented in collaboration with Deutsche Gesellschaftfür Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Bundesministeriumfürwirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung (BMZ) and the European Union (EU), sought to build the capacity of CSOs and media practitioners at the sub-national level to identify, report and advocate against gender-related corruption, with particular focus on “sextortion”.
It was also to enhance participants’ knowledge of relevant legal and policy frameworks for addressing sextortion in Ghana and also to strengthen the capacity of CSOs and media to document, report and advocate against sextortion, using gender-sensitive and rights-based approaches.
Mr. Michael Asante Boadi, Project Coordinator, PAIReD of TI-G disclosed that his outfit decided to zoom into the “specifics of corruption” and chose to look into “the impact of corruption on women and the vulnerable”.
He indicated that studies by TI-G show that policies that are gender-neutral, does not solve the “inequality gap” that various phenomenon (including corruption) perpetuate on women, making them suffer the most.
Mr. Boadi argued that the fight against corruption had not been fought with conscious effort to deal with inequality, hence the training to draw attention to the fact that corruption affects women negatively than men.
She added that due to disparities of economic strength between men and women, they are not able to dish-out same amount of money as men.
The Project Coordinator further indicated that when the “cost of service” is higher and the girl child is to compete with the boy child for the same limited resources, preference is always given to the boy child, hence the need to fight corruption to reduce the cost of service, facilitating equal opportunities for the both genders to access service.
Touching on Sextortion, Mr. Boadi disclosed that it is just like bribery, with its unit being “service instead of money”, explaining that some women give themselves out in exchange of service because they had reached a level of vulnerability and do not have anything to offer, but their most “treasured asset” reluctantly.
He noted that to deal with corruption relative to sexuality, we must deal with morality and elicit activities vis-a-vis accessing service, stressing that sextortion is extortion because people in authority demand sex instead of money for sex, which should not happen and must be condemned and not condoned.
Mr. Boadi stressed that the canker must be eradicated because women are primary caregivers, hence if their morality are ruined at the basic level, our future as a nation is ruined, since unscrupulous men in authority would always want to compromise women.
He urged the public to desist from stigmatising people who report corruption, noting that speaking against it will embolden victims to report and subsequently lead to holding officials accountable for their actions, as well as serve as a deterrent to people by making it a “high crime”.
Mr. Asante Boadi further urged the public to fight against corruption, starting with oneself by not offering or receiving bribes, facilitation fee as well as denormalising the “whom you know” mantra, which will empower one to point fingers.
“Once we start (the fight) from us (oneself), it is easier to deal with them (the corrupt elements)…” Mr. Boadi stressed, noting that the masses must be rallied against corruption, by providing information and change of behaviour.
Eunice Ohenewaa Ansu, Chief Executive, Juaben Municipal Assembly, noted that the project was a laudable one that would educate the public on all forms of corruption, as well as the fight against it and help curb the canker in the country.
From Oswald P. Freiku, Kumasi
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