For the third consecutive year, Ghana failed to improve on the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) released by Transparency International (TI).
Results published today show that Ghana’s score of 43 out of 100 in the 2022 CPI has remained the same since 2020. The country tied for 72nd (with Benin, Bulgaria, Senegal and South Africa) out of 180 countries.
The CPI uses impartial surveys from experts and business leaders to score and rank countries by the perceived level of corruption in their public sectors. It uses a scale of zero (perceived as highly corrupt) to 100 (perceived as very clean).
The Programmes Manager of the Ghana Integrity Initiative, Mrs. Mary Awelana Addah, said the development means that Ghana is not making any progress in its fight against corruption.
“This lack of progress is a worrying phenomenon, meaning that our fight against corruption is at a standstill and I believe worry is important because we all know and see the evidence of that in our policy space each and every day,” Mrs Addah said in an interview on Accra-based Citi FM.
“Even though this is a perception index, remember the perception is captured of businessmen who deal with Ghana, we have expert opinions feeding into this”.
Mrs Addah said Ghana’s stagnation on the index could be attributed to bribery, perceptions about the diversion of public funds during the COVID-19 pandemic, state capture, nepotism and the use of public office for private gain.
Regional comparison
Ghana scored higher than the sub-Saharan Africa regional average of 32 out of 100 marks which TI says marks another year of stagnation for the continent on the CPI.
Seychelles continues to lead the region with a CPI score of 70, followed by Botswana and Cabo Verde, each with 60. Burundi (17), Equatorial Guinea (17), South Sudan (13) and Somalia (12) perform the lowest.
“Conflict and security challenges have further weakened institutions and undermined states’ capacity to decisively respond to corruption. This has also meant little to no action in preventing capital flight – estimated to be in tens of billions of dollars each year – from the region,” TI said in a statement.
“Independent checks on power continued to take a hit too. Opposition figures or activists have been intimidated, smeared or arrested – at times under the pretence of anti-corruption crackdowns and enabled by heavily politicised judicial systems.
“The pandemic has affected the livelihoods of people, deepened inequalities and increased graft risks across the region. It is no surprise that corruption was a core issue in many of the elections in 2022. Integrity of the vote itself also remained a concern. In Kenya (32), the election highlighted the urgent need for public scrutiny of political financing. The same issue will be in the spotlight during 2023 elections in Nigeria (24) and Ghana (43) in 2024”.
