The Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) and Senior Advisor to the President on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Dr Nii Moi Thompson, has stated that tackling corruption decisively would resolve more than 90% of Ghana’s developmental challenges.

Speaking at the launch of the Ghana Statistical Service’s Governance Series Wave 1 Report in Accra, on May 28, 2025, Dr Thompson described corruption as "the single largest threat to national development”, emphasising its corrosive impact on public institutions and resource allocation.

In his address, Dr Thompson outlined a three-tiered "corruption pyramid", starting with routine bribery at the base.

"When citizens must pay bribes for basic services, it erodes their confidence in the very institutions meant to serve them," he said.

At the middle tier, bureaucratic corruption, seen in procurement fraud, diverts critical resources was featured.

"A school desk inflated from GH₵50 to GH₵100 due to graft means loss in the magnitude of half as many desks for students. The same applies to hospital beds and roads," he noted.

The most damaging, he asserted, is political corruption which was placed at the apex of the pyramid, representing opaque party financing and inflated contracts.

"Monetised politics forces winners to recoup campaign costs unethically, often at the expense of the taxpayer," Dr Thompson stated, citing past admissions by officials.

The report also revealed that 70% of Ghanaians feel excluded from decision-making, while 56% reported contact with public officials in 2024 — while 18.4% admitted to bribery.

Dr Thompson urged deeper scrutiny of these findings, including "gift-giving" which was conflated with bribery in the data.

He stressed that inclusiveness alone is insufficient, "If citizens believe participation won’t yield responsiveness, indifference follows. We must address this disconnect."

Dr Thompson challenged stakeholders to explore solutions, referencing anti-corruption models from China (strict penalties) to nations using institutional reforms.

"No country develops without slaying this monster. Ghana’s path must emerge from dialogues like today," he concluded.

BAI/VPO





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