Ghana has retained its 41? score for 2018 in the 2019 global Corruption Perceptions Index (CPU).
The Corruption Perceptions Index 2019 released worldwide on Thursday January 23, 2020, by Transparency International (TI) scores and ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption.
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),” said the report.
However, in the sub-Saharan Africa region, 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.
For the sub-Saharan Africa region, Ghana ranked 10 in the report that saw Seychelles ranking number one in sub-Saharan Africa, followed by Botswana, Cabo Verde, Rwanda, Mauritius, Namibia, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, South Africa and Benin.
The CPI 2019, according to the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), the Ghana Chapter of TI, draws on 13 surveys and expert assessments to measure public sector corruption giving each country a score from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).
The CPI 2019 focused on political integrity and highlights the relationship between politics, money and corruption.
By political integrity, TI means the quality of: (a) contesting and exercising power (political/public office) consistently acting in the public interest, and (b) providing equal, open and meaningful access to the affected stakeholders before arriving at decisions, GII said in a statement signed by its Executive Director, Linda Ofori-Kwafo.
“Frustration with government corruption and lack of trust in institutions speak to a need for greater political integrity,” said Delia Ferreira Rubio, Chair of Transparency International,“ it said.
Governments must urgently address the corrupting role of big money in political party financing and the undue influence it exerts on our political systems, it urged.
World Backsliding In Corruption Fight
More than two-thirds of countries – along with many of the world’s most advanced economies – are stagnating or showing signs of backsliding in their anti-corruption efforts per the CPI 2019 released today by TI, the report stated.
Global Highlights
In this year’s 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.
Within the framework of political integrity TI discusses a few dimensions relevant for anti-corruption work, including political finance, lobbying, transparency of the policy-making process, citizen engagement, political pluralism, state capture, among others.
BY Melvin Tarlue