Claim: An opposition lawmaker, Alhassan Suhuyini, says Ghana’s performance on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) has been “so bad” ever since the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) was voted into office.
Verdict: Misleading. Data available to DUBAWA had shown that despite a false start in 2017 when Ghana’s score on the Corruption Perceptions Index dipped to 40, the West African country had maintained a score of 43 in three consecutive years, from 2020 to 2022. This was not different from the country’s 2016 score, which was also 43 out of 100.
Full Text
Ghana is desperately counting on the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to put its economy on the path of recovery and prosperity.
The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, had cautioned the country’s economy, said to be one of the world’s fastest-growing economies according to the World Bank in 2019, would have collapsed if the $3 billion IMF facility was not approved on time.
To a section of Ghanaians led by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), the country’s economic predicament could be attributed to “corruption, profligacy, and mismanagement of resources” by the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Contributing to a discussion on the impending Ghana-IMF deal on Accra-based Metro TV on April 11, 2023, the Tamale North Member of Parliament (MP), Alhassan Suhuyini, said the government was chasing after money it had in excess in 2020.
“The records show that in 2020 alone, under Covid, we got more than $3 billion in one year, but because of profligacy, corruption, [and] mismanagement, and I am not saying it the Covid-19 Report is clear,” the opposition legislator said. See the video here posted on the YouTube channel of the media organisation, starting from minutes 0:25 to 0:40.
Commenting on the audit report on the government’s Covid-19 expenditure for the period March 2020 to June 2022, the lawmaker said the funds generously received from Ghanaians and corporate bodies were patently misapplied.
“The report [Covid-19 expenditure audit report] is replete with corruptible acts, which is even translated on our performance as a nation by Transparency International. We’ve been performing so badly ever since this government took over.” See the video here posted on the YouTube channel of Accra-based Metro TV, starting from 1:44 to 2:00.
Considering the heated nature of conversations around corruption in Ghana, DUBAWA decided to probe the comment made by the legislator.
Verification
Data available at Transparency International, a global movement working in over 100 countries to end the injustice of corruption, showed that Ghana’s best performance in the last decade on the Corruption Perceptions Index was in 2014, when the nation scored 48 out of 100.
This represented an improvement from the previous year’s score, which was 46 recorded during the regime of ex-President John Dramani Mahama. However, the figure dipped in 2015 to 47 and later to a score of 43 in 2016 during the final year of Mr Mahama.
According to experts and businesspeople, the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), the widely used global corruption ranking in the world, measures how corrupt each country’s public sector is perceived to be.
Since assuming the reign of government, Ghana’s score on the Corruption Perceptions Index under President Nana Akufo-Addo has moved from 40, an all-time low in 2017, to 41 in 2018 and 2019.
However, Ghana’s Corruption Perceptions Index score for the past three years, from 2020 to 2022, has been 43. The said figure was also recorded in 2016 under the government of the National Democratic Congress, the party of the opposition lawmaker.
With a score of 43 in 2016, Ghana was ranked 70 out of 176 countries. Today, it is ranked 72 out of 180 countries surveyed for the Corruption Perceptions Index in 2022, with four countries newly listed in the index than the number in 2016.
From the data available at Transparency International, it is evident that despite the poor performance in 2017, when Ghana’s score on the Corruption Perceptions Index dropped to 40, the West African country had maintained a score of 43 in three consecutive years, from 2020 to 2022, which was similar to the figure in 2016.
It is, therefore, misleading for anyone to suggest that Ghana has been performing “so badly on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index since this government took over.”
Conclusion
Ghana’s score on the Corruption Perceptions Index for three consecutive years from 2020 to 2022 has been 43 out of 100, which suggests that the score was also recorded in 2016 under ex-President John Dramani Mahama.
However, the country’s 2017 score of 40 out of 100 had been the lowest in the last decade.
