POLITICIANS TO BLAME... FOR GROWING SCOURGE OF SAKAWA (Pg 16) 26-05-09

Story: Kofi Yeboah

AN initiative by some ministers of state to help curb cyber crime among the youth has aroused a thrilling backlash from a section of the society which believes that politicians are to blame.
Responding to the issue during interviews with the Daily Graphic, they were unanimous on the view that the lifestyle of politicians who rose to sudden wealth and opulence upon acquisition of power is the cause of the upsurge in the “get rich quick” mentality among the youth in the country.
As the country looks for the way out of the “Sakawa” scourge, some young ministers in President Mills’s government assembled in Accra recently to extol the virtues of diligence and hardwork that had enabled them to rise to leadership positions, as examples for the youth to emulate.
But some contributors to the topic stretched it further to indicate that the success of the message would depend on how the youth view the lifestyles of politicians in general.
In general, they claimed, politicians’ attitude to wealth had been a bad influence on the youth in respect of their instant and wanton acquisition of riches which gave the impression that material acquisition was the only way to earn respect and honour in society.
They, therefore, stressed the need for politicians in particular and leaders in general to set good examples for the youth to emulate.
"People enter politics for four years and build mansions and buy expensive cars. Just look at what we are experiencing today; five months after handing over, we have been occupied with issues about cars and houses. What do we expect from the youth?’, a lecturer at the Department of Sociology of the University of Cape Coast, Mr Joseph Kingsley Adjei, asked.
In the opinion of the Foreign Mission Director of the Assemblies of God Church, Rev Alex Nkrumah, pastors could not escape blame for what is happening now because of the adulteration of the gospel, and the fact that "some of us do not match our words with our works".
The backlash of politicians being the prime suspects for the upsurge of cyber crime or what is popularly called ‘sakawa’ among the youth appears to be in direct conflict with the initiative by the young Ministers of State who assembled in Accra.
Mr Adjei said the upsurge in cyber crime was also a function of a growing cultural orientation in which people looked at the substance instead of the source of wealth.
"Now success is measured not by honesty, but by how many cars, mansions and property one has. We have thrown away honesty; we have thrown away hardwork; we have thrown away diligence", he remarked.
Mr Adjei said since many of the youth could not go through the traits of success, such as hardwork, diligence and honesty, they had resorted to short-cuts like ‘sakawa’ and armed robbery.
He also traced the problem to the total breakdown in time-tested social values which taught children about virtues in life, adding that economic pressure had compelled families to abandon their children, thus exposing them to various social vices.
Rev Nkrumah said the ‘sakawa’ phenomenon should not take any student of the Bible by surprise because the Bible had predicted that to happen in the last days, "men will be lovers of gods and lovers of money".
He blamed leaders for failing the youth because they had not lived examplary lives for the youth to emulate.
"The best way to teach a child to do the right thing is to let your works match your works", he said, adding that spiritual leaders should endeavour to preach the undiluted message of the gospel and let "God’s word be God’s word".
Ever since the phenomenon of ‘sakawa’ among the youth was splashed on the front page of the Tuesday, May 12, 2009 issue of the Daily Graphic, there has been a loud public outcry against the cyber fraud.
Interestingly, the deep concerns being expressed by the public come at a time Ghana has joined the international community to celebrate this year’s World Telecommunication Day on the theme "Protecting children in cyberspace".
The phenomenon of ‘sakawa’ appears to be a major challenge to the government’s plans to expand ICT infrastructure and services to enhance governance, commerce, education, health and overall national development.
The President is said to be deeply alarmed at the manner cyber crime is taking roots in the country, especially among the youth, and the government’s response has been very swift.
A Cyber Security Bill is to be introduced to Parliament to help combat the menace of cyber crime. Also, there are plans to deal with the issue in a multi-sectoral approach with the establishment of a Cyber Emergency Response Team, comprising the Ministry of Communications, the National Communications Authority (NCA), the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service and other agencies.
"This is the time to galvanise our actions in concert to protect the youth of this country from the harmful influence of the Internet and the exploitation of children. The use of ICT for fraud is unacceptable", the Minister of Communications, Mr Haruna Iddrissu, said at the celebration of World Telecommunications Day in Accra.