Global Anti-Corruption Conditionalities and Judicial Reform in Ghana or sentencing. So while international actors have long focused their efforts on the executive or political leaders of countries, efforts met with little efficacy, perhaps an adapted approach aimed at the judiciary would be met with relatively more success in combatting overall governmental corruption. V. POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS & CONCLUSION What would programs or initiatives that take these two primary factors into account look like? First, policymakers within Ghana who are interested in reducing corruption should increasingly look into the twofold possibility of employing journalists and news people in their anti-corruption movement and transferring information to laypeople. International actors could begin training and funding programs targeting journalists, journalism students, and news outlets in Ghana, or more broadly, in West Africa. Currently, journalist programs don’t have many students or aren’t receiving the requisite funding for good quality education and publication (Owusu 2011). Anas, who was responsible for uncovering the scandal, has previously stated that he is interested in perhaps one day starting a journalism school (Anas 2016). Alternatively, policy makers could begin investigating different ways of transitioning news and power into the hands of the people, which isn’t easy in a country with limited power and Internet. Perhaps this program could be done through texting a call list about recent corruption news, though this in turn creates questions about control, impartiality, and staffing. Nonetheless, new anticorruption initiatives based in West Africa should focus on empowering news agencies, journalists, and the electorate rather than creating policies that attempt to limit the political leaders of a country. International Affairs Forum In sum, the case study of the reformation of the judiciary in Ghana is indicative that international and local anti-corruption efforts targeting democratic, developing countries should focus not solely on conditionalities and programs to de-corrupt the executive sphere, but should also invest in journalism and other means of informing the electorate. The relative and historical failure of the traditional conditionalities compared with the resounding success of the Anas scandal in catalyzing a countrywide anti-corruption campaign as well as leading to the tangible change of forcing more than thirty corrupt judges out of the system indicates that bottom-up approaches have great potential and are indeed replicable. The positive impact that the press can have in developing countries should also not be overlooked: traditional anti-corruption efforts have often neglected bolstering investigative journalist and newspaper efforts, which, in the case of Ghana, were integral to not only exposing the corruption, but also combatting it. Perhaps for decades, international actors have been approaching anti-corruption in the wrong way, approaching corruption through trickle-down means rather than through bottom-up approaches. Finally, the judiciary of every democratic country is integral to the rule of law, and thus the economic and social development of a country. Anti-corruption efforts should not ignore the fact that with a corrupt judiciary, no corrupt official will be indicted or sentenced. By fostering a well-informed electorate, a strong journalism base, and an even stronger judiciary, developing countries will combat corruption by leaps and bounds. 70
Tyler Headley is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Political Science at New York University Abu Dhabi. He was recently a research assistant at the New York University School of Law and the Center on International Cooperation. In the Spring of 2016, Tyler completed a four-month residency in Accra, Ghana during which he conducted research at NYU Accra and helped litigate at Francois & Associates. His research and articles have been published in magazines such as Foreign Affairs and The Diplomat. He can be reached by email at tyh255@nyu.edu. Fall 2016
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