Ghana has been ranked 8th out of 49 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa in the 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) released by Transparency International on Tuesday.
With a score of 43 out of a possible clean score of 100, the West African country maintains its 72nd position out of 180 countries/territories included in the annual index.
“This score, reflects a lack of progress in the country’s fight against corruption,” the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), the local chapter of Transparency International said.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, the 2022 CPI shows a dire situation as most countries including Ghana have failed to make progress in reducing corruption.
The top performers in the region are Seychelles (70), followed by Cabo Verde (60), Botswana (60) and Rwanda (51), whereas Burundi (17), Equatorial Guinea (17), South Sudan (13) and Somalia (12) have the lowest scores.
It draws upon 13 data sources which capture the assessment of experts and business executives on a number of corrupt behaviours in the public sector. The survey uses a scale of zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).
Global highlights
In the 2022 CPI, Denmark and New Zealand topped with 87 points each. Syria, Somalia and South Sudan are at the bottom with 12, 13 and 13 points, respectively.
Significant changes
Since 2017, 10 countries significantly declined on their CPI scores. The significant decliners are: Luxembourg (77), Canada (74), the United Kingdom (73), Austria (71), Malaysia (47), Mongolia (33), Pakistan (27), Honduras (23), Nicaragua (19) and Haiti (17).
Eight countries improved on the CPI during that same period: Ireland (77), South Korea (63), Armenia
(46), Vietnam (42), the Maldives (40), Moldova (39), Angola (33) and Uzbekistan (31).
Recommendations
To address the problem of corruption in Ghana, GII recommends the following:
1. Relevant state agencies must address security vulnerabilities and protect the country against external threats. This should include measures such as strengthening the defence sector, increasing intelligence and security capabilities, and control the perceived politicisation of enlistment/employment. Strengthening the professionalism of the defence sector and improve border security to counter smuggling, illicit trade and potential terrorist activities.
2. Government must promote economic development and reduce barriers to investment. This includes the implementation of effective monetary and fiscal policies and the creation of a transparent environment in the public and private sectors where corrupt practices are easily identified and addressed more effectively.
3. The Executive should urgently take steps to lay the Conduct of Public Officers’ Bill in Parliament
while we call on the Legislature to attach equal level of urgency to its timely passage
4. Parliament should ensure implementation of recommendations contained in the Auditor General’s report by referring it to the Attorney General to recover lost funds and prosecute persons found culpable to have engaged in fraud, misapplication or embezzlement of state resources.
5. The Auditor General must exercise its powers of disallowance and surcharge per Article 187 (7) of the 1992 Constitution to recover misappropriated funds and prevent the reoccurrence of wastage in the public sector.
6. Government should as a matter of urgency ensure that the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) is adequately resourced to enable the office effectively to perform its mandate of prevention, prosecution and recovery of proceeds of corruption and corruption related offences.
