Ghana ranked second on Corruption Perception Index in Africa

Daily Graphic Dec - 02 - 2015 , 10:41

Ghana has been rated as the second most corrupt country in Africa, a Transparency International (TI) report has said.

According to the latest ratings by the international body, the country was closely followed by Nigeria, with South Africa perceived as the most corrupt nation on the continent.

The Corruption Perception Index (CPI) by the TI stated that about 71 per cent of people living in Ghana said corruption had increased over the last 12 months.

Number of respondents

In the report, People and Corruption: Africa Survey 2015, covering March 2014 to September 2015, respondents across 28 countries in sub-Saharan Africa numbering 43,143 were spoken to about their experiences and perceptions of corruption in their respective countries.

It revealed how people on the continent perceived their countries as far as corruption was concerned and what their leaders were doing to minimise that.

The report was part of the Global Corruption Barometer by the international body which was partnered by Afrobarometer, a Pan-African non-partisan research network.

Key revelations

It noted that corruption was so endemic that all the respondents wished their leaders acted swiftly to end the canker.

“In many countries you can pay off police officers to ignore any crime. However horrific and devastating — it’s just a matter of price. In Zimbabwe, a nine-year-old girl was raped on her way to school by a man who infected her with HIV. The police initially arrested her attacker, but then released him in secret. The reason: he paid a bribe,” it said.

Most governments across Africa were also seen as failing in their duty to stop the abuse of power, bribery and secret deals, according to the new opinion poll.

The majority (58 per cent) of Africans in the surveyed countries said corruption had increased over the past 12 months.

In 18 out of the 28 countries surveyed, a large majority of people said their governments were doing badly at fighting the canker.

There is still hope

Despite those disappointing findings, the bright spots across the continent were in Botswana, Burkina Faso, Lesotho and Senegal.

Citizens of these countries were some of the most positive in the region when discussing corruption.

For the first time, people reported business executives as highly corrupt. Business ranked as having the second highest levels of corruption in the region, just below the police.

Police rating

The report added that the police were regularly rated as highly corrupt, but the strong negative assessment of business executives was new, compared to previous surveys.

Some respondents also pointed out that government officials, tax officials, judges and magistrates, Members of Parliament (MPs), local government councillors, office of the Presidency, traditional leaders and religious leaders were all corrupt.

Twenty-two per cent of people who had come into contact with a public servant in the past 12 months said they paid a bribe, it added.

“Across the continent, poor people who use public services are twice as likely as rich people to have paid a bribe, and in urban areas they are even more likely to pay bribes.

“Corruption creates and increases poverty and exclusion. While corrupt individuals with political power enjoy a lavish life, millions of Africans are deprived of their basic needs such as food, health, education, housing, access to clean water and sanitation,” the report averred.

Call

It, therefore, called on leaders and other stakeholders to end corruption, eradicate impunity and implement Goal 16 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to curb the menace.

It further called on all Africans to demand honesty and transparency and mobilise against corruption.