Ghana ranked 75th in 2020 global corruption perception index

The latest ranking of the antigraft organization, Transparency International (TI), has placed Ghana in 75^th position, out of 180 countries, after scoring 43 out of a possible clean score of 100 in the 2020 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI).

According to the report, this CPI score indicates that Ghana gained 2 points compared to its 2019 score of 41. “Ghana’s score also exceeds the Sub-Saharan African (SSA) average score of 32 and is equal to the global average score of 43.”

However, Ghana’s score of 43 placed her 10^th in SSA. Seychelles is ranked highest with 66 points followed by Botswana with 60, Cabo Verde with 58, Rwanda with 54 and Mauritius scored 53 as the top five countries in SSA. Ghana also performed better than 39 other SSA countries including Benin, Lesotho, Burkina Faso, and Ethiopia, among others.

The TI 2020 CPI scores and ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption. The CPI draws upon 13 data sources which capture the assessment of experts and business executives on a number of corrupt behaviours in the public sector. It uses a scale of zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).

Denmark and New Zealand topped with 88 points each, in the global ranking, while Syria, Somalia and South Sudan are at the bottom with 14, 12 and 12 points.

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.

Since 2012, the earliest point of comparison in the current CPI methodology, 26 countries have significantly improved their CPI scores, including Ecuador (39), Greece (50), Guyana (41), Myanmar (28) and South Korea (61). Twenty-two countries significantly decreased their scores, including Bosnia & Herzegovina (35), Guatemala (25), Lebanon (25), Malawi (30), Malta (53) and Poland (56).

Nearly half of countries have been stagnant on the index for almost a decade, indicating stalled government efforts to tackle the root causes of corruption. More than two-thirds of countries scored below 50.

The 2020 CPI also focused on the relationship between corruption and emergency responses. According to Transparency International, the 2020 CPI reveals that persistent corruption is undermining health care systems and contributing to democratic backsliding amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

TI says countries that perform well on the index invest more in health care and are better able to provide universal health coverage and are less likely to violate democratic norms and institutions or the rule of law.

It noted that 80 percent of the countries that significantly have improved their CPI scores since 2012 also have the percentage of their health expenditure to GDP above 5 percent.

To reduce incidences of corruption and better respond to current and future crises, the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), following the report, made some recommendations to the government of Ghana.

These include: strengthening oversight institutions to ensure resources reach those most in need; enforcing procurement rules to all contracts; and ensuring open and transparent contracting to combat wrongdoing, identify conflicts of interest and ensure fair pricing.

GII also wants the government to publish relevant data and guarantee access to information to ensure the public receives easy, accessible, timely and meaningful information including – (i) COVID19 procurement contracts above a minimum value, (ii) names and beneficial ownership of companies awarded contracts, (iii) validating delivery of services and goods, and (iv) developing specific budget lines for COVID-19 reporting.

It also said the government should endeavour to speed up the digitisation of the economy to facilitate a more efficient and transparent delivery of key services in the pandemic period and also facilitates the ease of doing business and prevent artificial opacity among others.

Table 1: Extract of 2020 CPI Scores for SSA countries