We’ll win graft war – Gov’t

The Government of Ghana says it intends winning the war against corruption by continuing to “strengthen the relevant state institutions and work with civil society” groups.

In a statement issued by Communication Minister Edward Omane Boamah in connection with the latest Corruption Perception Index (CPI) released Wednesday January 27 by anti-graft body Transparency International (TI), which ranked Ghana 7th in Africa and 56th in the world on the corruption league table, the government said: “We acknowledge the singling out of Ghana and Senegal for praise in the report on efforts made by the respective governments on the one hand, and social partners on the other, to combat the menace.”

“This report, arguably the most authoritative source of corruption of surveys in the world, belies the spurious claims of certain media outlets a few months ago that Ghana had been ranked the second most corrupt nation in Africa by Transparency International,” the statement added.

“We note that though this performance is one point lower than that of 2014, it can be viewed within the context of the general performance of all countries.

“Given that this is a perception survey, it stands to reason that the views expressed by respondents were based on what they heard about the subject in the year under review.

“It also stands to reason therefore that the intense media focus on the allegations of corruption in the judiciary, as well as the repetition of some obviously false allegations against government in 2015, contributed to the perception.

“We are also mindful of the ‘paradox of exposure’ – which creates a scenario where government’s efforts to expose and punish acts of wrongdoing such as the National Service case – generates discussions among the populace, creating a misleading impression of pervasive corruption when the opposite is in fact the case.

“We nonetheless commit and rededicate ourselves to the implementation of the National Anti-Corruption Action Plan (NACAP),” the government said.