Target the Youth in the Fight against Corruption – Dr Yenkey

Stakeholders desirous of fighting and disrupting the normalization of corruption have been called upon to target the youth. This follows the realization that the youth are being recruited to accept corruption which is frowned upon by society

A recently released afrobarometer report stated that Ghanaians from age 18 to 25 had significantly lower perceptions of corruption, 15 to 23% lower than other age group. This, Dr. Christopher B. Yenkey of the University of South Carolina, USA says should be taken advantage of by policy makers, good governance institutions including anti-corruption think-thanks to launch a frontal and incessant attack on the menace of corruption.

At a public lecture in Accra on the topic; “Youth and Corruption: Demystifying Corruption” at the behest of Youth Bridge Foundation and Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition, he said, there was the need to fight the menace of corruption from a bottom up approach.

Dr. Yenkey said “corruption is a social disease and a social problem, and we need systematic social research to help develop a social vaccine. This social vaccine will come from the bottom up.

Ghana can be a leader in finding the cure and it is a pleasure to work with Youth Bridge Foundation and Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition toward that”

Quoting Ashforth and Anand [2003], he said, corruption becomes normalized as a result of institutionalization, rationalization and socialization. Data from transparency international according to Dr. Yenkey showed that corruption level in all countries do not change much over time.

Source: Adovor Nutifafa

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