Ghana falls three places in Corruption Perception Index; scores lowest since 2012
22 February 2018
Ghana receives its lowest corruption perception score in four years, making President Akufo-Addo’s one year in office the worst since 2012, according to the latest Global Corruption Perception Index.
The latest Corruption Perception Index (CPI) released Wednesday evening by the local chapter of Transparency International, the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), scored Ghana 40 out of a possible clean score of 100 and ranked the country 81 out of 180 countries assessed.
The index shows that Ghana’s performance has dropped by three points from its 2016 score of 43, and 7 points cumulatively from the 2015 score of 47.
That is, since John Mahama took office in 2012, the latest score is the lowest ever recorded.
On the African continent, both Burkina Faso and Lesotho overtook Ghana when compared to the 2016 index.
“This score is the lowest in Ghana’s CPI score since 2012 when CPI scores became comparable,” according to the GII.
The report says an average score of less than 50, which is what Ghana has received for 2017, shows serious corruption in the country.
"It is important to remind ourselves of the plethora of corruption exposés during the period in question which might have influenced the perception of the respondents to the surveys as well as the business experts – examples include the 2016 election related corruption issues, Bus Branding scandal, Ghana Standards Authority $1.2m Corruption Scandal, Central Medical Stores Arson Saga, National Lottery Authority bribery and numerous adverse findings in annual Audit Reports on the Public Sector," the statement accompanying the current index stated.
Ghana’s performance vis a vis other Sub-Saharan African countries
Although Ghana performed better than 36 other Sub-Saharan African countries including Benin 39, Swaziland 38, Zambia 37, Tanzania 36, it, nonetheless, performed below 11 other Sub-Saharan African countries.
The 2017 CPI score indicates that, in spite of Ghana’s numerous efforts at fighting corruption, the canker is still a serious problem.
"Ghana’s score of 40 points is a likely reflection of the inadequate investigations, prosecutions and sanctioning of corruption during the period the data sources covered i.e 2016," GII said.
GII recommends the following that:
- Government should demonstrate more practical commitment to fighting corruption by enacting key legislation such as the Right to Information (RTI), Witness Protection, and the Conduct of Public Officer’s Bill
- The newly created Office of the Special Prosecutor together with anti-corruption institutions such as the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) should be adequately resourced
- Government and businesses must do more to encourage an open and engaged civil society
- Civil society should continue to hold political and institutional leadership accountable and citizens should report corruption when they become victims and witnesses of same as prescribed by the National Anti-Corruption Action Plan (NACAP)
- Ghana must prioritise the mainstreaming of anti-corruption measures into the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals in order to achieve the target of substantially reducing bribery and corruption by 2030
