The fight against corruption in Ghana, like in many other countries, faces several challenges rooted in political, institutional, cultural, and socio-economic factors.
The political history of the country shows that corruption has been rooted since the early days after independence or even before independence, and since then it has become systemically entrenched in the politics and the public sector of Ghana.
Virtually any government that takes office tends to use the system of patronage among other things as a way of rewarding its supporters. The situation unfortunately has not changed despite the use of several means both radical and civil to address it.
Even though corruption is a worldwide issue, its consequences in Ghana are worrisome. The fact that Ghana continually receives low ratings for its efforts to combat corruption from Transparency International and the Ibrahim Index of African Governance provides obvious proof of its prevalence in the country.
For instance, Ghana received a score of 43 and was placed 72 out of 180 nations in the most recent 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index.
On a scale from 0 to 100, the Corruption Perceptions Index is based: a score above 50 indicates minimal levels of public sector corruption, whereas any number below 50 indicates high levels of corruption.
According to Transparency International, Ghana has failed to get a 50 score in any of the annual rankings for the past 10 years, from 2012 to 2022, which paints a more worrisome image for the nation.
This indicates that a significant amount of corruption is thought to exist in the country. Although it is undeniable that corruption has eroded every aspect of Ghanaian society, an area that has been infested gravely by this canker is the public sector.
For many anti-corruption crusaders and good governance advocates in Ghana, political interference or influence has been the biggest bane to the fight against corruption in the country as evidence affirms that political interference mostly hinders the independence of anti-corruption institutions and impedes their ability to investigate and prosecute cases involving high-profile individuals or political figures.
Interestingly, there appears to be yet another growing trend of events and culture of judiciary dismissal against efforts of anti-corruption institutions that undermine the fight against corruption in the country.
The Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, has expressed deep worry about the growing setbacks that his office is facing as its pursuit of corruption cases in court is not yielding a positive outcome
He noted with grave concerns that the country may not win the fight against corruption if his office’s efforts in waging war against the canker fail.
“Collectively with the well-meaning lawyers who admonish me, we philosophise and wonder if our judges would do such a thing as gang up against the flagship public anti-corruption agency to scuttle its work – for whatever reason. Our musings run along the lines of – would that not defeat the fight against corruption – would that not put our young democracy in danger – would the judges not stultify themselves in the process? We always end with an open-ended sigh that may not be the case. Personally, I do not believe that our judges would ever adopt such a dystopian stance.
“However, there appears to be a developing trend of rather regressive and dismissive judicial decisions in respect of cases involving the OSP, with troubling consequences. And it seems to us that a careful examination of these outcomes portends a disturbing spectre that the fight against corruption is being hampered to the benefit of us all. Four instances will suffice”.
Kissi Agyebeng
Moreover, the Special Prosecutor, Mr Kissi Agyebeng recounted several cases his office has failed to secure a favourable ruling from the courts and argued for the need for his office which was created by law to fight corruption to receive better regard and consideration by the courts and not the developing trend of ‘dismissiveness’ and ‘regression’ without regard to its governing enactments.
It is important to note that addressing the problem of corruption in Ghana is critical now more than ever as corruption is a major contributor to the country’s current economic woes as evidenced by several reports including that of the Auditor General’s report on Government of Ghana’s COVID-19 expenditure.
Addressing corruption requires a multifaceted and sustained effort which involves legal, institutional, cultural, and socio-economic reforms.
It therefore requires a commitment from both government, anti-craft state institutions, civil society and particularly the judiciary to foster transparency, accountability, and a culture that rejects corruption at all levels.
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