For the fourth consecutive year, Ghana has scored zero in Transparency International’s (TI) Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) released Tuesday, January 30, 2024, indicating the country’s approach to fighting corruption is not encouraging.
Releasing the report, the TI’s local chapter, the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) said “Ghana scored 43 out of a clean score of 100 and ranked 70th out of 180 countries and territories included in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2023 released today, 30th January 2024 by Transparency International (TI). This marks the fourth consecutive year of stagnation in Ghana’s anti-corruption efforts, as indicated by the CPI.”
Ghana’s deteriorating justice system which is compromising accountability to grant public officials the liberty to thrive in corrupt activities, according to the Transparency International, is the reason for the country’s continuous stagnation.
“Under the theme for the CPI 2023 – Corruption and Justice, Ghana’s stagnated score highlights a global trend of deteriorating justice systems, which is reducing the accountability of public officials and therefore allowing corruption to thrive.
“The connection is reinforced by Ghana’s performance in the Rule of Law Index produced by the World Justice Project, which demonstrates a concerning decline. In the 2015 Rule of Law Index, Ghana scored 0.60 and ranked 34, but by 2023, Ghana’s score had decreased to 0.55, with a corresponding drop in ranking to 61.”
The Ghana Integrity Initiative is therefore recommending to Parliament to lay the Conduct of Public Officers’ Bill to situate the asset declaration at a position where verification would become compulsory, defining severe punishment for non-compliance.
“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. 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,” the GII recommended.
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