A former Deputy Attorney General, Joseph Dindiok Kpemka, has commended the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) for its efforts in fighting corruption in Ghana.
He praised the government for implementing and enacting various laws and policies that have made it easier for agencies and institutions, including the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), to subject government officials to scrutiny.
During an appearance on JoyNews’ Newsfile on February 3, he stated, “Let me tell you this, do a cross-check, there has never been in the history of Ghana any time when sitting government officials have been subjected to accountability by a state institution like now.”
“If you look at what the OSP is doing, down to sitting public heads and institutions, it has never happened. The numbers are increasing day by day at frightening levels. The people who have been reported to the Office of the Special Prosecutor for investigations and prosecutions at various stages, we have the numbers at frightening levels.
Mr. Kpemka’s comments come in the wake of Transparency International’s latest Corruption Perceptions Index, which ranks Ghana as 70th out of 180 countries in terms of corruption. Ghana scored 43 out of a possible 100, the same score since 2020.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, Ghana scored better than 39 other countries, including Burkina Faso (41), South Africa (41), Côte d’Ivoire (40), Tanzania (40), and Lesotho (39).
Despite the progress made by the government, Kpemka emphasized that there is still more work needed to completely eradicate corruption from Ghanaian society. “There have been efforts to fight corruption by the government, deliberately through statutory provision and enactment of laws, but we find that we are either stagnating or deteriorating,” he said.
Mr. Kpemka stressed the need to diagnose the root causes of corruption and find ways to reduce it to the barest minimum, despite the existence of laws aimed at fighting corruption.
