Ghana ranked 80 out of 180 countries and territories included in the 2019 Corruption Perception Index.
The Index put together by Transparency International ranks countries annually by their perceived levels of corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys.
In the 2019 index, Denmark and New Zealand topped with 87 points each. Syria, South Sudan and Somalia are at the bottom of the index, with 13, 12 and 9 points respectively.
The highest-scoring region is Western Europe and the European Union, with an average score of 66, while the lowest scoring region is Sub-Saharan Africa with an average score of 32.
More than two-thirds of countries scored below 50, with the global average score of 43. Since 2012, only 22 countries have significantly improved their scores, including Estonia, Greece and Guyana. On the other hand, 21 countries have significantly declined since 2012 including Australia, Canada and Nicaragua.
Ghana scored 41 out of a possible clean score of 100 in the CPI 2019 and ranked 80 out of 180 countries/territories included in this year’s index. This year’s score of 41 shows that Ghana’s score remained the same compared to its CPI 2018 score (41).
Ghana performed better than 37 other Sub-Saharan African countries including Burkina Faso 40, Lesotho 40, Ethiopia 37, Gambia 37, Tanzania 37.
In 2019, while Ghana performed better than Burkina Faso and Lesotho, Ghana could not catch up with countries like South Africa, Senegal, São Tomé and Príncipe, etc. that scored better than Ghana in 2018.
Recommendations by GII
1. The government must take a critical look at elements that promote public sector corruption including patronage, clientelism, nepotism and suspiciously close ties between politics and business.
2. The government should enforce sanctions against vote-buying, abuse of incumbency and threats to voters in order to ensure the 2020 elections are held in a fair and transparent environment.
3. Political parties must demonstrate a high sense of integrity and transparency in all their campaign finances to avoid the snares of ‘political entrepreneurs’
4. The Electoral Commission should enforce sections 13 and 14 of the Political Parties Act, 2000 (Act 574) which deal with the declaration of assets and expenditure by political parties.
5. Civil society organisations, including the media, must offer equal opportunities for espousing of ideas, programmes and plans and create platforms to hold duty bearers accountable.
Source:Starrfm.com.gh