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Ghana declined by two points in the 2021 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) Index by the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII).
The 2021 CPI report focuses on corruption, democracy and human rights, and according to Transparency International (TI), corruption enables both human rights abuses and democratic decline which in turn lead to higher levels of corruption.
And the latest report released by the Transparency International saw Ghana accumulate 43 points out of a possible 100, same score the country had in the 2020 chart.
Ghana ranked 75th globally in 2020 in terms of the corruption perception and 10th in Sub-Sahara Africa.
However, the latest figures released indicate that Ghana has fallen by two points to 73rd position in the World ranking while moving one spot backward to 9th position alongside Senegal in Africa.
The CPI analysis shows Ghana “failed to make progress in the fight against corruption in 2021” as compared to the 2020 scores.
The report also noted that while the SSA’s average performance is 33 as the lowest in the World, Equatorial Guinea (17), Somalia (13) and South Sudan’s 11 points are “the lowest in the region.”
Meanwhile, “44 countries including Ghana ranked below 50.”
Seychelles tops the region ranking with 70 points, followed by Cape Verde with 58 and Botswana’s 55 as the top three countries in the SSA.
Also, countries such as Botswana (55), Lesotho (38), Eswatini (32), Niger (31), Nigeria (24), and South Sudan (11) are all at historic lows, according to the 2021 index.
The release stressed that since 2012 “Seychelles (70), Senegal (43), Ethiopia (39), Tanzania (39), Cote d’Ivoire (36) and Angola (29)” are the only six countries in the region who have “significantly improved their score over that period.”
These were contained in the assessment announced by the Local Chapter Transparency International, Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) on Tuesday, January 25, 2022.
The CPI for 2021 released worldwide scores and ranks among 180 countries by their perceived levels of public sector corruption.
In the 2021 global highlight of the CPI, Denmark and Finland topped the chart with 88 points respectively. On the other hand, Somalia, Syria and South Sudan are the bottom ranked countries with 13, 13 and 11 points each.
The report also noted that there is a “strong correlation between anti-corruption and respect for human rights, and that very few countries have managed to establish effective control of corruption without also respecting human rights”.
It continued that Ghana’s score on the Democracy Index has seen a decline between 2015 and 2020 from 6.86 to 6.501 out of a possible 10.
The survey believes although Ghana government is known to have taken some measures to address the canker and abuse of public office, “impunity remains a problem.”
The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) admonished governments around the world especially Ghana to “uphold the rights needed to hold power to account”, “restore and strengthen institutional checks on power.”
This, they said will help combat transnational forms of corruption and uphold the right to information in government spending.l parties”.
GII in conclusion urged Parliament to also “amend Act 574 to include disclosure on funding sources for candidates contesting Presidential and Parliamentary elections. There should also be a ceiling on how much can be raised and spent by candidates contesting these elections.”
