Corruption Index: Akufo-Addo Must Sit Up – Batidam

Former advisor to ex-President John Mahama on Governance and Corruption, Mr Daniel Batidam has challenged President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to sit up and do more in the fight against corruption.

According to Mr. Batidam who is also the Chair of the AU Advisory Board on Corruption, Ghana’s slide on the latest Corruption Perception Index released Wednesday is not a good sign and does not bode well for the country.

Ghana scored 40 as against last year’s score of 43 – dropping 11 places in the latest CPI. It is Ghana’s worst performance in the last six years in its fight against corruption.

The CPI ranks countries annually by their perceived levels of corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys. It is prepared by Transparency International. The CPI score indicates the perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of zero (being highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).

New Zealand and Denmark ranked highest with scores of 89 and 88 respectively while Syria, South Sudan and Somalia rank lowest with scores of 14, 12 and 9 respectively.

Speaking on Morning Starr Thursday, Mr. Batidam told host Francis Abban that the perception by some “ignoramuses” that the appointment of Martin Amidu as Special Prosecutor will end corruption is erroneous and unfortunate.

According to Batidam, all the hardwork done previously to fight corruption and help Ghana rise on the Perception Index is gradually being derailed by the lack of action by the Akufo-Addo led government.

“I am worried that after years of steady progress which took us from as low as 38% in 2009 to 48% in 2014, we are sliding backwards again…virtually, nothing has happened in the area of fighting corruption when the NPP came into power.

“From what I am seeing now, I can say that in Ghana now, the perception of corruption is a reality…this gov’t has not done much to its credit when it comes to the fight against corruption. President Nana Akufo-Addo will have to sit up…his government is doing nothing to fight corruption.”

Source: Starrfmonline