Ghana Integrity Initiative covering up government’s 'monumental' corruption – NDC

The National Democratic Congress has accused the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) of endorsing and spurring on the canker of corruption in the country by trying to conceal the ‘rots’ in the NPP and attribute figures in the recent Corruption Perception Index (CPI) to the NDC government.

Speaking to the media Tuesday at the NDC Headquarters in Accra on the 2017 CPI, General Secretary for the party, Johnson Asiedu Nketia said that the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) which is the chapter of Transparency International (the global civil society organisation leading the fight against corruption) is making attempts to shift focus from the ruling government to the previous NDC administration though the facts in the report categorically point to the fact that the these events happened in the year 2017, under the Akufo-Addo led government.

“Transparency International is an international body and there’s a local NGO here which is called Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) which is affiliated to that. The survey was not conducted by Ghana Integrity Initiative at all. It was conducted by transparency International and then when Ghana Integrity Initiative was doing a press conference, they decided to import some dangerous opinions into that report to create the impression for Ghanaians that what is happening on the CPI front was attributable to 2016,” he said.

He quoted comments made by the GII at a press conference; “It is important to remind ourselves of the plethora of allegations, expose during the period in question (2016) which might have influenced the perception of the respondents in the survey as well as the business experts” as a mere effort by GII to mislead Ghanaians into believing that the high record of corruption as captured in the index was fueled by past corrupt happenings that occurred under the NDC in 2016.

“How can a 2017 report you are discussing as proper professional researchers and you yourself having said that 88% of the data relates to 2017 and yet your commentary mentions nothing, not even a single corruption scandal which occurred in 2017?” he quizzed.

The NDC chief scribe further cautioned the GII to refrain from such schemes and admit the facts as they are rather than try to shift unnecessary blame and cover up the wrongs in the system.

“Ghana Integrity Initiative will have to revisit their representation of Transparency International here in Ghana. If they are going to colour the report of Transparency International this way then they are beginning to be a disservice to the country because these are the facts and nothing but the facts, the facts speak for themselves….. let us watch our NGO’s too and the way they conduct themselves because they also have a role to play in the fight against corruption,” he advised.



Ghana dropped 11 places from the 2016 ranking to place 81 out of 180 countries in the 2017 Corruption Perception index.

First launched in 1995, the Corruption Perceptions Index has been widely credited with putting the issue of corruption on the International Policy Agenda. The institution scores countries annually on how corrupt their public sectors are seen to be. The index sends a powerful message that puts various governments on their feet as far as corruption is concerned.