Corruption: Ghana ranked second worst performing country

Transparency International has named Ghana the second worst performing country in the fight against corruption in the latest corruption perception index.

The report cited 76 percent of Ghanaians saying corruption has increased over the last twelve months.

South Africa topped the list as most corrupt country with 86 percent, with Nigeria placing third with 75 percent.

On the other hand, Burkina Faso, Mali and Cote d’Ivoire were the best performing countries in the fight against corruption.

Majority of Africans in the surveyed countries said corruption has increased over the past 12 months.

In 18 out of 28 countries surveyed, a large majority of people said their government is doing badly at fighting corruption.

For the first time, people reported business executives as highly corrupt.

Business ranked as having the second highest levels of corruption in the region, just below the police.

Twenty per cent of people that came into contact with a public service in the past 12 months said they paid a bribe.

Of the six key public services asked about, people who came into contact with the courts and police are the most likely to have paid a bribe.

The report indicated that people were divided about the issue of whether or not ordinary people can make a difference in fighting corruption in their country.

While 53 per cent answered in the affirmative, 38 per cent feel disempowered.