Parliament launches scheme to honour ethical leadership and publicly shame corrupt conduct with controversial “Vulture Award”
Parliament has officially launched the National Integrity Awards Scheme (NIAS), a groundbreaking initiative designed to recognise and reward individuals and institutions that uphold ethical conduct, transparency, accountability and integrity in public life.
The scheme, launched at Parliament House in Accra on Monday, 27 July 2026, marks a significant departure from Ghana’s traditional approach to public recognition. Rather than only celebrating good behaviour, it introduces a provocative “Vulture Award” to publicly name and shame officials and institutions whose conduct undermines national integrity.
Who Gets Recognised?
The scheme will confer awards in nine categories covering the Executive, Parliament, the Judiciary, anti-corruption and law enforcement agencies, security services, public service institutions, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs), the private sector, civil society and whistle-blowers.
The scheme aims to recognise individuals, and in exceptional cases institutions, that demonstrate honesty and integrity in their areas of endeavour and those who lead by example in their personal and community existence.
A special Vulture Award will also be introduced to draw attention to conduct that undermines national integrity and encourage public accountability. The purpose of this award, Speaker Bagbin explained, “is not to substitute public accusation for lawful accountability but to draw responsible attention to conduct that undermined integrity, weakened institutions and damaged the moral health of the nation”.
A National Statement
Launching the scheme, Speaker of Parliament Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin described it as a deliberate national effort to celebrate ethical leadership and restore public trust in governance.
“Today, we are making a national statement: Ghana must be a nation in which honesty is celebrated, ethical leadership is valued, accountability is a given, and integrity is treated not as an ornament of public life but as its foundation,” he stated.
Mr Bagbin stressed the need to inculcate the values of integrity and accountability from the basic school level and urged parents to reconsider raising their children abroad, arguing that doing so could affect their appreciation of those values.
He also underscored the need for the scheme to be implemented fairly and in accordance with the law.
“We cannot only condemn corruption; we must also honour integrity. We cannot only punish wrongdoing; we must also celebrate rightfulness,” the Speaker said.
Chief Justice: “Integrity Demands Personal Sacrifice”
Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, who spoke at the launch, described integrity as indispensable to national development despite the personal sacrifices it often demands.
“Integrity will demand a personal sacrifice, but corruption demands a national sacrifice. The cost of integrity is paid by the individual, but the cost of corruption is paid by all of us. That is why integrity matters,” he said.
The Chief Justice challenged Ghanaians to reconsider what integrity truly means, defining it not merely as honesty but as “the willingness to pay the price for doing what is right”.
He illustrated his point with vivid examples from everyday Ghanaian life: the market woman who sells her tomatoes at the true market price while others inflate theirs; the student who refuses to cheat during examinations; and the public servant who retires with nothing more than the salary he honestly earned.
“No nation has ever succeeded by rewarding dishonesty indefinitely,” he declared.
A Long-Awaited Initiative
Tracing the origins of the agenda to a 1998 Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) integrity conference and the 2015 National Anti-Corruption Action Plan, Mr Bagbin said Parliament had now moved to “bring this long-standing national aspiration into practical reality”.
The scheme, first announced by the Speaker on the Floor of Parliament in March 2025, “should have been done long ago,” according to retired Justice William Atuguba, who chairs the 13-member National Integrity Awards Committee. “But as the saying goes, better late than never,” he added.
Commitment to Credibility
Justice Atuguba assured the public that the committee would discharge its mandate with independence, fairness, diligence and confidentiality to safeguard the credibility of the awards.
He stressed that the awards are “not about popularity, influence or status. It is about character, consistent ethical conduct over time, and actions that inspire confidence, advance the public good and worthy of emulation”.
The National Integrity Awards Scheme is expected to become an annual national event, institutionalising the recognition of ethical conduct in public and private life.
