Corruption perception worsens marginally in 2015 as Ghana ranks 56th in the world
Corruption perception in Ghana has worsened marginally by 1 percentage point in the Corruption Perceptions Index 2015 by global corruption watchdog Transparency International (TI).
Ghana is ranked 56th out of 168 countries with a score of 47, marginally down from a score of 48 in 2014, in TI’s index which rates countries on a scale of 0 (perceived to be highly corrupt) to 100 (perceived to be very clean).
In 2014 Ghana was ranked 61st out of 174 countries.
On the African continent, Ghana ranks 7th in the 2015 report.
Despite the marginal drop, the 2015 report cites Ghana as one of the bright spots where citizen activists worked hard individually and in groups to drive out the corrupt and to send a strong message that should encourage other countries.
More countries improved their scores than declined in the 2015 report but two-thirds of the 168 countries still scored below 50.
Chantal Uwimana, Transparency International’s Director for Sub-Saharan Africa, said 40 out of 46 countries in the region “show a serious corruption problem.”
“If corruption and impunity are to ‘be a thing of the past’ as the African Union stated, governments need to take bold steps to ensure rule of law is the reality for everyone”, she said.
According to Transparency International, many African countries fail to uphold the rule of law, consistent with a survey in November which found that police and courts have the highest rates of bribery.
In many sub-Saharan African countries such as low-scorers Angola, Uganda and Burundi, there’s “a failure to prosecute corrupt public officials on the one hand, and intimidation of citizens who speak out against corruption on the other.”
“Prosecuting corruption will restore faith among people who no longer believe in the institutions that are supposed to protect them. Transparency and accountability must go hand in hand when tackling corruption – as these results show, this is still far from the norm in Africa.”
Botswana, the best-performing African country, scored 63 and is ranked 28th, followed in second place in the region by Rwanda, ranked 44th with a score of 54, and Namibia, ranked 45th with a score of 53.
The rest of the African continent scored below 50 and six of the worst 10 countries are in Africa.
Atop the rankings are Denmark, Finland, Sweden, New Zealand, Netherlands and Norway but the report says “not one single country, anywhere in the world, is corruption-free” and many of the best-ranking countries have dodgy records overseas and some have faced accusations of international violations.
By Emmanuel Odonkor
Power reveals itself in its insidious corruption of others. The only way to cure this is with relentless prosecution. And when the prosecutor or judge become corrupt, get an outsider to prosecute them as well.