The National Communications Officer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has criticised the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) for the country’s poor ranking on the Corruption Perception Index.
According to Sammy Gyamfi, corruption has become a trait of the government led by President Akufo-Addo and Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.
Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, February 3, he stated that the country’s ranking on the CPI conducted by Transparency International (TI) over the last seven years has been abysmal.
He explained that the poor performance is unsurprising, stressing that the country is only reaping what it sowed in the fight against corruption.
“This is what you get when the government of the day decides to pay lip service to the fight against corruption.
“The perception of corruption in Ghana today is at an all-time high because the government has decided to make corruption an attractive and thriving venture,” he said.
Sammy Gyamfi’s remarks come after Ghana maintained its score of 43 for the fourth consecutive year in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2023, as reported on January 30.
The country ranks 70th out of 180 countries and territories assessed in the CPI.
According to the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), the local chapter of Transparency International, the stagnation in Ghana’s anti-corruption efforts is attributed to a declining justice system.
On the back of this, the NDC National Communications Officer explained that the government has allowed corruption to thrive freely among government appointees, including high-ranking officials such as the President, Vice President, and Ministers of State.
He emphasised that in the last seven years, Ghana has witnessed a deliberate promotion of corruption, making it perform poorly under the NPP administration.
“So clearly, we know the cause. Since this government [NPP] took office, there have been countless cases of corruption, countless cases of naked corruption and thievery, the evidence is there, the government knows,” Mr Gyamfi stressed.
