Mrs Linda Ofori-Kwafo,Executive Director-GII
Ghana has been ranked 78 out of 180 countries on the global Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for the year 2018.
The CPI also gives the country a score of 41 out of a possible clean score of 100 for the same period, indicating that the country had improved upon its performance by one point from the 2017 score of 40.
This score, according to the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), local chapter of Transparency International, was a positive departure from the continuous drop the country has been experiencing since 2015.
When the scores became comparable in 2012 for the first time, the country scored 45, 2013; (46); 2014 (48); 2015 (47); 2016 (43); 2017 (40) and 2018 (41) points respectively, the CPI indicated in a release issued by the GII in Accra yesterday.
The 2018 CPI used nine out of the 13 data sources of independent institutions with high level of credibility to compute the score for Ghana.
These include among others, the World Bank Country Policies and Institutional Assessment, the World Economy Forum Executive Opinion Survey, the African Development Bank Country Policy and Institutional Assessment, World Justice Rule of Law Index Expert Survey, The Political Risk Service International Country Risk Guide and the Economic Intelligence Unit Country Risk Service.
According to the CPI report, Ghana’s enhanced performance and improvement was attributed partly to several factors including policies and initiatives by government and state institutions implemented during the period.
The enhanced performance of the Audit Service and the Auditor General in the discharge of their constitutional mandate and insuring the protection of the public purse could have made some impact on the 2018 CPI score.
The paperless port clearing system under the Digital Inclusive Agenda and establishment of the Office of the Special Prosecutor to fight corruption and corruption related offences in spite of the office’s teething challenges could have equally impacted on the country’s 2018 CPI score.
It stated that the ongoing Judicial Service reforms including efforts to promote high standards of integrity amongst judges and magistrates, judicial staff, and the E-Justice System cannot also go unmentioned.
The GII said it was worthy to note that, although Ghana performed better than 37 other sub-Saharan African countries including Benin, 40, Swaziland, 38, The Gambia, 37, Tanzania 36, Ghana nevertheless, performed below nine others.
Ghana’s performance notwithstanding, the GII said it was of the opinion that, the country could have possibly scored higher if allegations of corruption during the period under review were expeditiously investigated, prosecuted and appropriate sanctions meted out to culprits.
The GII therefore among other things, recommends that government takes a critical look at elements that promote public sector corruption including patronage, nepotism, secret political party financing, suspiciously close ties between politics and business.
It therefore calls on Parliament as a matter of urgency to ensure the passage of the Right to Information (RTI) Bill and the Conduct of Public Officer’s Bill into laws as they are very critical in promoting transparency and public sector integrity necessary for the fight against corruption.
By Times Reporter
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