Akufo-Addo’s fight against corruption is the best in Ghana’s history – Chief of Staff

Chief of Staff Akosua Frema Osei-Opare claims no government can match President Akufo-Addo’s record in combating corruption.

According to her, this government has put in several measures towards the fight against corruption than any administration in Ghana’s history.

The Chief of Staff made the remarks at a meeting convened by the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) in Accra on Tuesday, which discussed the 2023 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) released by Transparency International.

Ghana had a score of 43 out of 100, ranking 70th out of 180 nations and territories in Transparency International’s (TI) Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2023, which was issued on Tuesday, January 30, 2024.

The CPI reports that Ghana’s anti-corruption measures have stagnated for the fourth year in a row. Four of six Sub-Saharan African countries that had a stagnant score for four or more years in a row saw their CPI score fall the following year, indicating a troubling trend.

In her response, she said since the president took over in 2017, the fight against corruption has seen tremendous progress through the establishment of systems for deterrence, means and of detection, the undertaking of smooth investigations and the establishment of a sound vehicle of prosecution and punishment.

Records show that the government has since 2017 undertaken some of the boldest initiatives since independence to reform the public sector and strengthen the institutions responsible for tackling corruption, she added.

She stated that access to information was vital in the battle against corruption, which is why this administration passed the Right to Information Law in 2019.

She went on to urge Ghanaians and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to put their trust in state institutions to investigate and prosecute corruption and corruption-related acts.

She said the country must be united in the corruption fight, adding that “unfounded allegations” of corruption undermined the fight against the phenomenon.

Osei-Opare stated that since 2017, all corruption claims against members of the government have been probed by State agencies and made public.

“Unfounded allegation of corruption and perception of wrongdoing hardly aids the fight against corruption. When corruption allegations have been investigated and findings made exonerated the subject of investigations, there is no basis for
continuous suspicion of wrongdoing by civil society and other persons who have access to the media.

“We must trust institutions of State established to fight against corruption,’ she said.

“The struggle against corruption is ever evolving. Wrongdoers employ complex and
sophisticated means to avoid detection,” she said.