Corruption Perception Index: Ghana ranked 80 out of 180 countries

Ghana has ranked 80 out of 180 countries/territories on the 2019 global Corruption Perception Index, (CPI), according to Transparency International (TI).

According to the report, Ghana scored 41 out of a possible clean score of 100.

This year’s score of 41 shows that Ghana’s score remained the same compared to its CPI 2018 score (41).

Ghana’s Performance Vis-a-vis Other Sub-Saharan African Countries

Ghana performed better than 37 other Sub-Saharan African countries including Burkina Faso 40, Lesotho 40, Ethiopia 37, Gambia 37, Tanzania 37, and performed below 9 others.

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.

Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), a local chapter of TI, which released the report recommended that “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.”

It further recommended that: “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”

GII again recommended that “Political parties must demonstrate a high sense of integrity and transparency in all their campaign finances to avoid the snares of ‘political entrepreneurs.’

“The Electoral Commission should enforce sections 13 and 14 of the Political Parties Act, 2000 (Act 574) which deal with declaration of assets and expenditure by political parties”.

Lastly, “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.”