The shadow of the past is long, and its darkest contours are often drawn in the places we once called hallowed halls.
The malaise you observe—the brazen indifference and the cynical calculus that rebrands corruption as “deals and gigs”—is not a sudden plague, but a bitter harvest from seeds sown in the very student representative councils (SRCs) meant to be the cradle of future governance.
From the paltry sum of SRC Dues to the grand State Coffers, we witness an unbroken, escalating chain of plunder.
The university, that supposed crucible of conscience and intellect, has tragically become the training ground for the syndicate. We watched, perhaps with a naive shrug, as student leaders—our peers, our representatives—first mistook the student coffers for a personal vault. The small-scale theft of SRC funds—funds meant for welfare, for debate, for a better campus life—was the rehearsal. It was the low-stakes laboratory where the future architect of grand state larceny learned his trade.
“The child is the father of the man,” but here, the student leader was the father of the corrupt politician. This transformation is a profound paradox: the very mechanism designed to teach stewardship and accountability instead perfected the art of sophisticated theft.
The student union constitution, the highest law on campus, became a mere suggestion, a “parchment barrier” against an insatiable appetite for immediate gain.
To stand against this tide, as you noted, was to be deemed the fool, the “dull” idealist clinging to an obsolete moral map. This was the first, and most crucial, lesson ingrained: Integrity is a liability; cynicism is currency.
The transition from the microcosm of the campus to the macrocosm of the nation was not a leap, but a smooth, oiled glide. When these individuals graduated from student politics to national platforms, they simply broadened the scale of their original enterprise. The tactics remained identical, merely the zeros on the balance sheet multiplied. The “dirty deal” that stole from a few thousand students is structurally indistinguishable from the “grand gig” that drains the national budget. It is the same hand, gripping a much larger pen to sign away the fate of millions.
Yet, this ascension was permitted by the silent accomplice: apathy. The apathetic relaxation on the fence in university—the casual dismissal of audit reports, the failure to demand minutes of meetings, the cynical vote cast for the most charismatic rather than the most conscientious—is the exact blueprint for the national malaise.
If the fence-sitter does not care about GHC 5 in SRC Dues, why should they care about GHC 5 million in State Contracts? The indifference of the majority is the oxygen that feeds the tiny, smoldering flame of elite corruption. “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,” and we have perfected the art of doing nothing, first in the lecture halls, then in the national market squares.
The moral decay is encapsulated in a terrifying simplicity: they view the public purse not as a sacred trust, but as unattended property. This is the ultimate betrayal of the foundational promise of a republic. When the highest office is seen as merely the largest available bank to loot, the social contract dissolves into dust.
To address this crisis now, we must initiate a cultural and institutional reversal, starting where the rot began.
The fight begins by transforming our schools from breeding grounds of cynicism back into academies of accountability. This means implementing Mandatory Student Audits—enshrining the non-negotiable right and duty of students to conduct independent, forensic audits of all student union accounts, which must be publicized and debated in mandatory Town Hall meetings.
Furthermore, an Active Citizenship Curriculum must embed practical lessons on public finance, procurement processes, and anti-corruption laws, making accountability an academic requirement.
Critically, student bodies must protect and lionize the few who stand against the tide, creating systems where whistleblowers are rewarded, not vilified. The idealist should be seen as the visionary, not the fool.
At the national level, the system must be retooled to make the risk of plunder outweigh the reward of loot. This requires Automated Transparency—implementing mandatory, end-to-end digitization and automation of all public service systems, from procurement to customs clearance. “Sunlight is said to be the best disinfectant.” Digitalizing processes removes the discretionary space where “petty corruption” (and its grander forms) thrives.
We must also achieve Strengthening Independent Bodies, insulating anti-corruption institutions from political control, granting them adequate funding, and empowering them with automatic execution powers to prosecute high-profile cases without interference.
Finally, Asset Recovery as Priority must shift the focus from mere arrest to aggressive, non-negotiable recovery of stolen assets. The message must be clear: the spoils of corruption will not be enjoyed. This is not just punishment; it is the restoration of collective wealth.
The challenge ahead is immense, a battle against the Leviathan of Learned Apathy. But the future of the republic hinges on our collective willingness to trade the comfortable silence of the fence for the tiring, necessary struggle of the watchdog.
The time for whispering about “deals” is over; we must shout about theft and restore the sanctity of the public trust, one student body, one ministry, one contract at a time.
By Raymond Ablorh
