By
Godwill Arthur-Mensah, GNA
Accra, Jan. 27, GNA
– Government has re-affirmed its commitment to fighting corruption at every
level of national life and would continue to improve the Corruption Perception
Index (CPI) and the Global Corruption Barometre (GCB) scores.
“The Akufo-Addo administration
wishes to remind Ghanaians and its major stakeholders that it remains committed
to fight against corruption especially in the Public Sector,” Mr Kojo Oppong
Nkrumah, the Information Minister, told journalists in Accra, on Sunday.
“The government of
Ghana pledges to continue with the recent efforts that have led to the improved
scores in the recently released Corruption Perception Index and the Global
Corruption Barometre,” Mr Oppong Nkrumah stressed.
The Minister said
government had demonstrated its commitment to combating corruption by
increasing resource allocation, strengthening anti-corruption institutions and
increased budgetary allocation to anti-graft agencies such as the Commission on
Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), the Auditor-General Department
and Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP).
He noted that the
establishment of the Office of the Special Prosecutor and the appointment of
Mr. Martin Amidu was a clear indication of the President’s commitment towards
uprooting corruption.
More so, government
had conducted thorough investigations into all corruption allegations leveled
against government appointees by the relevant institutions.
Mr Oppong Nkrumah
was of the conviction that Akufo-Addo’s administration was committed to
continue with efforts to build the institutions that could make a difference in
the anti-corruption fight since the fight against corruption is best won by
building strong institutional mechanisms.
“Government has also
instituted measures to minimise corruption tendencies in the Public Sector;
including the digitisation of some key public institutions like the Ports,
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), Passport Office and Registrar
General’s Department and urged the broader society and stakeholders to
complement government’s efforts in the corruption battle.
“Now if we
critically look at that content of the CPI report, it is laughable when the NDC
says President Akufo-Addo and this administration have failed in fighting
corruption.
“The report assessed
the perceptions of corruption across the country from 2015 to 2019.
Interestingly, it means it captured the first three years of Mahama’s
Government and also captured two-and-half years of Akufo- Addo’s government,”
he explained.
The Minister
explained that the report released indicated that, corruption had declined
significantly in Ghana in all spheres of the corruption survey assesses.
For instance, the
CPI survey showed that Ghana was pegged at 45 in 2012, 46 in 2013 and 48 in
2014 then declined to 47 in 2015, 43 in 2016 and 40 in 2017.
Then in 2018, the
CPI indicators showed the country’s rating had begun a steady climb up from 40
to 41 and that figure was maintained in 2019, which Mr Oppong Nkrumah believed
a number of factors contributed to the score being repeated in 2019.
Regarding the Global
Corruption Barometre (GCB), it benchmarked from 2015 to 2019, and asked people
who used public facilities.
The survey showed
that citizen’s perceptions of corruption have declined significantly since
2015, while the report suggests that under Akufo-Addo’s government, citizens
felt more empowered and could make a difference in the fight against corruption
with the percentage moved from 53 per cent in 2015 to 60 per cent in 2019.
Apart from the
citizens feeling empowered to fighting corruption, they similarly know that
government is empowering and motivating them to fight corruption, the Minister
pointed out.
Expectedly, in 2019,
60 per cent of the citizens felt that the Government was doing a good job in
fighting corruption. However, in 2015, only 25 per cent felt that way.
Mr Oppong Nkrumah,
however, said under Mahama’s administration, 71 per cent of the citizens felt
that government was not doing anything to fight corruption, but only 30 per
cent of the people felt that way about President Akufo- Addo’s administration,
according to the report.
In terms of
corruption by institutions, most Ghanaians felt Mahama and his appointees were
very corrupt. Indeed, the index on corruption by institution reveals that the
presidency (47 per cent) and Government officials (53 per cent) were the most
corrupt in the country.
In 2019, only 27 per
cent of Ghanaians feels that the presidency was a corrupt institution while
just 35 per cent felt that Government officials were corrupt.
On the index of
bribery rates, the current government has done far better.
For instance, in
2015, 58per of the Police were deemed to be taking bribes, however, in 2019,
only 34 per cent were deemed to be doing so.
Bribes were rampant
even in the sensitive public clinics and health centres in 2015 (17 per cent)
while by 2019, it had declined to 12 per cent.
GNA