Anti-Corruption CSOs Engage President On Ghana’s Poor Performance On  CPI

President Nana Akufo- Addo

CSOs led by the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC) engaged the President on Ghana’s poor performance on the CPI. The GACC as the CSO body facilitating periodic engagement with Government on anti-corruption and governance matters engaged His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, President of the Republic of Ghana on Ghana’s poor performance on the Corruption Perceptions Index and what the Government can do to stop and reverse the decline.

The leader of the delegation and Board Chair of the GACC, Nana Osei-Bonsu lamented Ghana’s poor performance in the latest (2017) Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) dropping from 43 points in 2016 to 40 points in 2017 but acknowledged the efforts of the government so far in the fight against corruption especially with passage of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) Act and digitization of some public sector institutions to improve efficiency and ensure transparency and accountability.

He advised that these reforms must be intensified and deepened to transform systems and change behavior in order to get results in our fight against corruption. He also stressed that government should extend its resourcing of the National Anti-Corruption Action Plan (NACAP) to cover strategic anti-corruption institutions that can lead interventions around education, investigations, prosecution and retrieval of stolen money.

The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo welcomed the periodic engagement with CSOs as an effective way of deepening understanding and a collective effort to identify strategic action against corruption.

The President also encouraged CSOs to speak boldly and objectively against any group that will brand government’s efforts at retrieving stolen public money as political witch hunting.

The President also underscored the government’s resolve to build strong institutions including measures that ensure the operational and financial efficiency of public institutions and enhancing their collaboration and coordination efforts. He said institutional strengthening is thus expected to form a key part of the government’s anticorruption agenda. In this regard, the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo – Addo appointed Deputy Chief of Staff Samuel Abu Jinapor as the focal person at the presidency to chair the High Level Implementation of NACAP (HiLiC) that provides strategic direction to the implementation of the NACAP. The NACAP is a ten-10 year (2012 – 2021) strategic national anti-corruption blueprint to drive anti-corruption activities in Ghana.

The CSO leaders included: Beauty Emefa Narteh, Executive Secretary, Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC), Jean Mensah, Executive Director, Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), Emmanuel Akwetey, Executive Director, Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG), Kojo Asante, Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Mary Awelana Adda, Programmes Manager, Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII).

Others were, Edem Senanu, Co-Chair, Citizens Movement against Corruption (CMaC), Kofi Bentil, Senior Vice President, IMANI Africa, Nana Afadzinu, Executive Director, West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI), Kwami Ahiabenu, Director, Penplusbytes, Sammy Obeng, Executive Director Parliamentary News Africa (PNAfrica) and Kojo Gyabaah, Research Cordinator, GII.

The rest were, Frank Bodza, Programme Manager for Governance, Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF), Abdul-Kudus Husein, Communications Officer, GACC, Kwesi Boateng Assumeng, Programmes Officer, GACC, Godson Aloryito, CS Platform on the International Monitory Fund (IMF) Programme and Rushaiya Ibrahim-Tanko, Accountability Advisor, Strengthening Action Against Corruption (STAAC).

About the CPI and Ghana’s Score
Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), the local chapter of Transparency International (TI) and a member of the GACC disseminates the CPI in Ghana. The 2017 CPI draws from 13 data sources that capture the informed views of analysts, business people and experts in countries around the world. The information used in the construction of the 2017 CPI is based on data published by 12 independent institutions in the previous two years, However Ghana’s score was based on nine (9) date sources as captured in the table below.

Source: TI CPI (2017)
About GACC
GACC is a unique cross-sectoral grouping of public, private and civil society organizations with a focus on promoting good governance and fighting corruption in Ghana. Its members comprise Private Enterprises Federation (PEF), Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Economic Organized Crime Office (EOCO), Ghana Conference of Religions for Peace (GCRP), Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) and the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA).

SIGNED:
Nana Osei-Bonsu
Board Chair – GACC
Beauty Emefa Narteh
Executive Secretary - GACC