Ghana has been ranked 43 out of a possible clean score of 100 in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) released by Transparency International.
The survey also ranked the country 70 out of 180 countries/territories included in the annual index.
A statement issued by the Ghana Chapter of Transparency International on Tuesday (30 January) said ” This marks the fourth consecutive year of stagnation in Ghana’s anti-corruption efforts, as indicated by the CPI,”
Ghana, with a score of 43, ranked eighth out of 49 countries in SSA which were included in the index, alongside Benin (43) and Senegal (43).
Regional Performance
Ghana with a score of 43 performed better than 39 other Sub-Saharan African countries including Burkina Faso (41), South Africa (41), Côte d’Ivoire (40), Tanzania (40), and Lesotho (39). While seven countries including Mauritius (51), Namibia (49), Sao Tome and Principe (45) performed better than Ghana.
According to TI, the (CPI) scores for Africa this year reveal a mixed picture, with some notable advances in a few nations. The majority of African countries, however, continued to perform poorly, preserving the region’s continuously low average score of 33 out of 100 from prior years. Ninety percent of Sub-Saharan African nations received a score of less than fifty.
The top performers in the region were Seychelles (71), followed by Cabo Verde (64), Botswana (59) and
Rwanda (53). Sudan (20), Equatorial Guinea (17), South Sudan (13), and Somalia (11) had the lowest
scores
Recommendations
Independent, transparent, and well-resourced judiciaries and law enforcement institutions are central to
keeping corruption in check. In turn, preventing the abuse of political power, bribery, and other forms of
corruption from influencing justice systems is key to ensuring their effectiveness.
GII recommends the following:
- The executive should urgently take steps to lay the Conduct of Public Officers’ Bill in Parliament ensuring that provisions on assets declaration require verification and come with severe sanctions for non-compliance while GII also calls on the Legislature to attach an equal level of urgency to its timely passage.
2. The executive and the Legislature must take steps to bridge the legal gaps necessary for the prosecution of selected corruption cases outside our current legal framework. These anti corruption frameworks include unexplained wealth, influence peddling, and all aspects of the UNCAC, among others.
3. Government must give the justice system the resources and transparency needed to effectively punish all corruption offenses and provide checks and balances on power. Where necessary, they must also introduce better procedures and laws to help justice institutions shield themselves from and target corrupt acts.
4. Laws that criminalise defamation or give judges discretion to award crippling compensation in libel cases inhibit the media from investigating and reporting suspected criminality and should be reformed. Journalists must be able to comment fairly on legal proceedings and report suspected or actual corruption or bias.
5. The Judicial Service should institute limited immunity for judges in matters related to judicial duties while excluding immunity in corruption or criminal cases.
6. Expand, strengthen and increase knowledge of the public on the Public Relations and Complaint Unit (PRCU) of the Judicial Services. This will ensure a confidential and rigorous whistleblower policy for reporting suspected breaches, ensuring the involvement of lawyers, court users, prosecutors, police, media, and civil society
Below is the full statement:
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