In January 2025, Ghana Water shut down the Bonsa headworks, cutting off about 75 per cent of the drinking water supply to Tarkwa Nsuaem. The reason was illegal mining so severe that the river had turned “just mud,” according to the plant manager. This environmental crisis unfolded amid a web of complicity: financiers, operators, buyers, weak enforcement, economic hardship and social tolerance all played parts. Communities that demand government action sometimes also expect enforcement officers to spare relatives or politically connected individuals.
Ing. Prof. Douglas Boateng, a Chartered Director and Engineer in the UK and Ghana, describes such contradictions as symptoms of a deeper societal problem. “A society that protects the causes of its suffering should not expect time alone to deliver the cure,” he wrote. His critique extends beyond environmental damage to issues of corruption, inequality and weak institutions that he says have become accepted norms in many African societies.
Boateng compares these problems to a patient who knows exactly what is wrong, understands the consequences and has access to treatment but still defends the habits that cause the illness. “The most difficult patient to treat is not the one who is unaware of his illness,” he said.
In many developing societies, he argues, the real obstacle is not ignorance but a willingness to defend harmful practices under the guise of politics, culture, loyalty or survival. Corruption, for example, is often condemned publicly while unexplained wealth benefiting insiders is quietly admired. Indiscipline is denounced, yet people seek exemptions from inconvenient rules. Environmental destruction is criticized, yet those responsible are financed or shielded by the same communities raising demands for change.
Boateng warns of a dangerous shift when abnormal behaviour becomes normal. He points to the procurement officer insisting on due process who is accused of delaying progress, the board director raising uncomfortable questions dismissed with disdain, and a citizen refusing dishonest arrangements only to be told to “be realistic.” “What once shocked us becomes familiar; what is familiar becomes tolerated; what is tolerated becomes defended; and what is defended eventually becomes institutionalised,” he wrote. At this stage, a society helps the problem survive.
Political loyalty also plays a role in this dynamic. Boateng observes that many condemn questionable contracts linked to opposition parties but excuse the same when linked to allies. “It is almost as though morality alters its chemical composition whenever a government changes, becoming poisonous in opposition and medicinal in power,” he said. This selective accountability undermines institutions and citizen confidence.
Environmental crises expose these contradictions starkly. On 3 June 2015, floodwaters and a fire at a fuel station near Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra killed more than 150 people. A decade later, drainage systems remain clogged with refuse, and structures continue to block waterways. Yet when floods occur, rainfall is blamed, not the blocked drains or the illegal constructions. Boateng writes, “A nation cannot continuously block its waterways with yesterday’s indiscipline and expect tomorrow’s rainfall to negotiate politely.”
Transparency International’s 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index scored Ghana 43 out of 100, above the sub-Saharan average of 32 but still indicative of significant corruption. Meanwhile, UNCTAD estimates Africa loses about $88.6 billion every year to illicit financial flows, exceeding the continent’s development aid receipts.
Boateng stresses that corruption is never a solo act. It depends on a chain: someone offers, someone receives, someone prepares documents, someone approves, someone conceals, and many remain silent expecting eventual benefits. When communities celebrate wealth without questioning its origins, families pressure officials for undue favours, and businesses treat bribery as a routine cost, society collectively sustains corruption.
His observation points to the endurance of societal habits that protect the very conditions causing suffering. This cycle complicates efforts to build healthy nations and clean environments.
According to Joy Online.
