| INTELLECTUAL MANDATE FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
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Many of Africa's institutions do not work because they have been perverted. Africans know of the rot in their professional organizations because some sycophantic members act unprofessionally and succumb easily to bribery and corruption. But instead of collectively expelling such scoundrels from their midst, they keep quiet, which helps nobody because the bad apples bring shame and disrepute to the entire profession. The professions in Africa whose images have been badly tarnished are the military, the civil service, and the university lecturers.
Reward and punishment is an ancient human behavior modification rule. Children or workers who are honest, diligent and faithful are rewarded, while those who are lazy, unprincipled and unreliable are punished. The rot in these professions has festered due to the simple fact that the sell-outs, disreputables and scoundrels are never punished. Instead, they are welcomed back into the fold to continue the damage. This should change. NOW.
Those intellectuals and professionals who knowingly and willingly participate in the rape, plunder and oppression of the people of Africa should be punished. Ostracism is the preferred punishment method. Those intellectuals who, with all their "education," cannot uphold high principles of probity, integrity, morality, and public duty should be expelled from professional associations --- just as soldiers who flout strict military discipline can be discharged or court-marshaled.
One person alone can't reform or fix all the systems. He may be proficient in the workings of one system but may lack the operational knowledge of other systems. In fact, the person who insists that only he can contribute to an African nation's progress by becoming the next president is least qualified for the job. Hundreds of people have contributed to the advancement of world civilization without being the presidents of their respective countries. An African intellectual who wants to make a contribution, should work with others to reform an institution, a system, or a profession.
For each institution, system, or profession to work efficiently, it must have its own rules and regulations, which those who work in that system or institution must obey at all times. These rules are called a CODE OF CONDUCT; for example, the civil service code, the military code, the academic code, student code, and so on. In any school system, cheating is not tolerated and any student caught cheating during exams could be expelled. Similarly in academia, plagiarism is not tolerated. A professor caught plagiarizing the work of other could be dismissed. Enforce these codes.
The purpose of the code is to establish professionalism or professional conduct. Any organization or institution that deals with the public at large must have a code that is nonpartisan (apolitical) and non-discriminatory. For example, a teacher passes a student, not because he is from his tribe but on the basis of merit. Similarly, a civil servant should report to work on time and process applications without bias or favor. If you work at the state broadcasting corporation, or state-owned newspaper, you give equal coverage to the opposition views too because you are a civil servant; as such, you must treat all Ghanaian citizens the same, whether they are in the government or in the opposition. Opposition people pay taxes too, damn it.
Disciplinary action must be taken against violations of the code for all to see. For example, in the teaching profession it is unethical and unacceptable for a teacher to have sexual relations with a student. The function of a teacher/lecturer is to impart knowledge and bring light where there is darkness, not to prey on students or add more darkness. An infraction of this code should result in the teacher’s expulsion.
Therefore, the military, the civil service, the judiciary, the banking system, and the educational system must all be cleaned up. Here is what Major (retired) M.K. Sawyer wrote in Free Press (8-14 September 1995): "Real commandos do not go about beating, shooting and molesting their countrymen. They operate within the Armed Forces and not outside it. As part of the Armed Forces, they help protect their country against external aggression and not operate as the private army of their Head of state. What we have here is an institution whose inmates are trained as fake terrorists and are used as such by the powers that be against their own brothers and sisters." (2) Such commando or terroristic units must be disbanded by the military itself.
The other professions also must do the same. Any member of these professions who does not uphold professional integrity and ethics should be decertified or expelled. For example, a lawyer or judge who blatantly flouts the canons of law should be debarred and expelled from the bar association. Similarly, any soldier who breaches the military code of discipline should be court-marshaled and discharged with dishonor. Perhaps an example from the U.S. might be appropriate. Following the release of Judge Kenneth Starr's Report on President Clinton's Monica Lewinsky scandal, Mr. L. Lynn Hogue, a member of the Arkansas bar and general counsel of the South-east Legal Foundation, filed a complaint with the Arkansas Supreme Court to disbar President Clinton for "abhorrent behavior" that was beneath the standards of the legal profession:
Mr. Clinton should be disbarred because of 10 separate categories of acts by Mr. Clinton as described in the Starr Report, all reflect adversely on Mr. Clinton's honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness as a lawyer in other respects. The complainant asks the Court to strip Mr. Clinton of his licence to practice law. Besides being held accountable politically, Mr. Clinton needs to be held accountable professionally as well (The Washington Times, 16 September 1998, A11).
The police department, civil service, media, bar association must reform themselves and uphold professionalism. Civil servants should remain apolitical, showing no favors to any one political party. They are there to serve the people, who may belong to different parties. Civil servants who show favoritism to one party should be disciplined just as hard as those openly support another.
Elsewhere, demand to see the code or constitution of your organization or profession and have it enforced. A university Teachers Association should define a Faculty Code of Ethics. Where none exists, demand to have one drawn up. Such codes should eschew tribalism and emphasize professionalism and merit. People in the army should be promoted not because they are Ashanti, Ewe, Kalenjin or Hausa but solely because they have earned their promotion by merit and professional standards.
The house of chiefs also needs to be cleaned up. Chiefs should never involve themselves in national politics and desecrate that sacred institution of chieftaincy. A chief should realize that his subjects may belong to different political parties. Therefore, he should remain politically neutral. He should not be seen campaigning for any political party. Chiefs who violate this code should be destooled immediately.
In fact, the constitution of Ghana's Fourth Republic, for example, precluded them from the rough and tumble of partisan politics, so that chiefs, as fathers of their people, could maintain their honor, dignity, reverence, and the sanctity of the institution. As impartial players, chiefs are enjoined to treat all their people equally as their flock, no matter their political inclinations. While some chiefs strove to live by these tenets, many chiefs in Brong Ahafo turned themselves brazenly into party fanatics during the 1996 election campaign. Such sycophantic chiefs should be destooled at once.
Those in the opposition who preach democracy must practice it in their own organizations. Any politician who acts autocratically, as if the party belongs to him -- and him alone -- should be expelled at once! Nobody --- absolutely nobody --- has the God-ordained right to be the leader of a political party. The leader, or the presidential candidate, of a political party is chosen democratically --- by the rank and file. Anyone who seeks to impose himself on the party should be thrown out immediately.
All professions, political parties, associations and groups must enjoin their members to uphold constitutional and democracratic rule. Therefore, no member of any such group must serve an unconstitutional and illegal military regime. It should not be left to the individual to decide but debarred by collective action. Those who violate this injunction, such as judges who swear in coup leaders, should be decertified and expelled from the Bar Association. Similarly professors, civil servants and medical doctors.
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George Ayittey, |
