GII Makes Recommendations After Ghana’s Poor Performance In Corruption Index

The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) has made seven recommendations for an improvement in the country’s fight against corruption.

This comes after Ghana was ranked 72nd in the 2022 Corruption Perception Index (CPI).

Reacting to the rankings, GII said Ghana’s rank and score in the global Index is a reflection of stagnation in the country’s fight against corruption.

It recognises that this is the third time Ghana has maintained the same score- 43.

“Addressing the problem of corruption is critical now more than ever as corruption is a major contributor to the country’s current economic woes as evinced by several reports including that of the Auditor General’s report on Government of Ghana’s COVID-19 expenditure.

“This year’s index focuses on corruption, conflict and security. According to Delia Ferreira Rubio, Chair of Transparency International: “Corruption has made our world a more dangerous place. As governments have collectively failed to make progress against it, they fuel the current rise in violence and conflict – and endanger people everywhere. The only way out is for states to do the hard work, rooting out corruption at all levels to ensure governments work for all people, not just an elite few.””

Recommendation
The GII has therefore carved out seven recommendations to tackle the rate of corruption in the country.

They include:
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 perform its mandate of prevention, prosecution and recovery of proceeds of corruption and corruption related offences

7. Government should intensify efforts at expanding the digitization programme to all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies to promote the ease of doing business and reduce opportunities for corruption

Ghana’s Rank In 2022 Global CPI
Ghana has been ranked 72nd in the 2022 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) by Transparency International.

This portrays a slight increase in the performance of Ghana against corruption when it comes to the ranking.

In the 2021 CPI, Ghana was ranked as the 73rd most corrupt country globally at a score of 43.

In the current Index, Ghana scored 43, the same score as Benin, Bulgaria, Senegal and South Africa.

Denmark, Finland, New Zealand, Norway and Singapore ranked 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th respectively.

Somalia was ranked as the most corrupt country in the world at 180th position.

The CPI ranks 180 countries and territories around the world by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, scoring on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).

Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini