Mahama To Blame For Ghana's Worst Corruption Perception Since 2012

Government says worsening corruption perception as captured in a report should be blamed on the previous John Mahama administration.

The Government Spokesperson on Governance and Legal Affairs, Herbert Krapa said the scandals that may have formed the basis for the worsening corruption perception happened before the Akufo-Addo government took over power in 2017.

" Where else would they be taking their data from other than instances like bus branding, payment to Ghana Standard Authority kickback?".

The latest Corruption Perception Index (CPI) released Wednesday by the local chapter of Transparency International, the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), scored Ghana 40 out of a possible clean score of 100.

Ranking the country 81 out of 180 countries assessed, the index shows that Ghana’s performance has dropped by three points from its 2016 score of 43.

Ghana has also lost seven points cumulatively from the 2015 score of 47.

The damning conclusion shows that the country's 2017 performance is the worst since 2012.

But Herbert Krapa argued on the Joy FM's Super Morning Show, Wednesday, that the rankings are "the result of what has happened between 2015 and 2017 put in their proper context".

He said respondents used in the nine surveys collated to prepare the 2017 CPI would have used issues of corruption under the previous administration.

They would have taken notice of government's response to scandals and commitment to deal with the canker, he explained.

But the CPI used two surveys conducted in 2016 and seven surveys conducted in 2017, the first year of the Akufo-Addo government.

Watch : Ghana drops 7 points since 2015

The Government Spokesperson, however, explained comments made by government officials while exposing corruption and mismanagement under the previous government, could have contributed to the new ranking.

"When the Finance Minister goes to present his budget.... and tells you that 5.4bn cedis of claims that he has been asked to pay are fictitious claims, you must know that would seep into the computations," he said.

The Akufo-Addo government has had its share of corruption allegations. There was a bribery saga in parliament where a ministerial nominee was accused of paying monies to some NDC MPs for approval.

A bi-partisan probe was launched but the allegations proved to be unsupported by evidence.

Another bi-partisan probe was launched after the Trades and Industry Ministry and a private event organiser were accused of acting together to use the Presidency to unethically raise money. After the president expressed satisfaction, that there was no wrongdoing, the bi-partisan probe also came to the same conclusion.

Watch: Ghana drops three places; scores lowest since 2012

In the 2.5bn cedis bond issuance, CHRAJ investigations revealed that there was " no evidence that there was personal benefit" to the Finance Minister after he proceeded to the international bond market to raise money for the government.

But the Minority has maintained portions of the report justified their position that there was a conflict of interest in the raising of the bond.

Other corruption allegations include accusations made against two Deputy Chiefs of Staff by a party loyalist and entertainer, A-Plus and also the sale of contaminated fuel saga.

Although investigations have cleared the accused persons of wrongdoing, the opposition has pointed to cover-ups by the government .

The Akufo-Addo government has pointed to a desperate attempt by the opposition to stigmatise the one-year-old administration as corrupt.