Corruption perception rises in Ghana

The general perception among Ghanaians that the government has become ever more corrupt over the years received a stamp of scientific legitimacy Monday, as Transparency International (TI) released its 2006 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), which points to the correlation between corruption and poverty. TI is a non-government organization committed to fighting corruption.

Ghana ranked 70^th out of 163 countries surveyed in the global CPI for this year, a five-step fall from last year when there were four countries less. ( read)

Ghana received a score of 3.3 out of 10 on the CPI scale, down 0.2 point from 2005, indicating that Ghanaian society is becoming corrupt slowly but surely.

Ghana's result, the worst in the past 10 years, is now at par with that in 1999, which was recorded when the Rawlings administration was in power.

"In fact this year's CPI score of 3.3 takes Ghana back to its lowest point since its inclusion in Transparency International's annual corruption rankings and indicates clearly that the nation has retrogressed in the anti-corruption battle," Mrs Linda Ofori-Kwafo, Programmes Manager GII, said at the launch of the Report.

CPI relates to perceptions of the degree of corruption as seen by business people and country analysts, and ranges from scores of 10, which is "highly clean," and 0, which is "highly corrupt."

'Corruption traps millions in poverty,' said TI chair Huguette Labelle, adding: 'Despite a decade of progress in establishing anti-corruption laws and regulations, today's results indicate that much remains to be done.'

All low-income countries and all but two African states score below five points, meaning they face serious perceived levels of domestic corruption.

Botswana is the cleanest ranked African state in 37th place on the list, with South Africa (51st place) and Namibia (55th place) in the upper third. Nigeria is among the worst-ranked states at place 142. Guinea was the worst placed Africa nation at 160

Finland, Iceland and New Zealand came first with 9.6 points, while Haiti came in last scoring 1.8 points, according to the report.

Britain was 11th with an 8.6 rating, Germany 16th at 8.0 and the United States 20th with 7.3. Italy mustered only a 4.9 rating in 45th place, while Russia was ranked 121 with 2.5.

Countries with a significant worsening of corruption include: Brazil, Cuba, Israel, Jordan, Laos, Seychelles, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia and the US, said the report.

Countries with a significant reduction in perceived levels of corruption include: Algeria, Czech Republic, India, Japan, Latvia, Lebanon, Mauritius, Paraguay, Slovenia, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uruguay.

The Berlin-based Transparency International's CPI ranks countries in terms of the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians. It is a composite index, a poll of polls, drawing on corruption-related data from expert and business surveys carried out by a variety of independent and reputable institutions.

The value of the results is sometimes disputed because they are based on the opinions of the people polled and the amount of data used in surveys is different for each nation. TI requires at least three sources to include a country in the CPI.

Ghana's CPI 'progress report'

  Year  Rank/World  Rank/Africa CPI Score
 2006   70/163       4/44       3.3
 2005   65/159       6/44       3.5
 2004   65/146                  3.6
 2003   72/133                  3.3
 2002                           3.9
 2001                           3.4
 2000                           3.5
 1999                           3.3