Ghana has been ranked as the second most corrupt African
nation behind South Africa which is the most corrupt of the
entire continent.
Nigeria follows closely behind Ghana making up the top
three worst performing nations in the corruption index.
For
the
first
time, people reported business executives as highly corrupt.
Business ranked as having the second highest levels of
corruption in the region, just below the police.
According to a report by Transparency International, about
71 percent of people living in Ghana say corruption has
increased over the last twelve months.
A new opinion poll showed that most governments across
Africa are failing in their duty to stop the abuse of power,
bribery and secret deals.
According to a report put together by Transparency
International and Afrobarometer, majority of the African
governments are doing really badly in the fight against
corruption.
In the Africa Survey 2015 which forms part of the global
corruption barometer, 43,143 respondents were spoken to
across 28 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa between March
2014 and September 2015.
They were asked their experiences and perceptions of
corruption in their country.
About 58 percent of Africans in the surveyed countries, say
corruption has increased over the past 12 months.
In 18 out of 28 countries surveyed a large majority of people
said their government is doing badly at fighting the menace.
Bribery was a key point in the survey,the debt to which
bribery has eaten deep into the fabrics of the continent calls
for concern.
Of the six key public services that was asked about, people
who come into contact with the courts and police are the
most likely to have paid a bribe.
According to the report, poor people across the continent,
who use public services are twice as likely as rich people to
have paid a bribe, and in urban areas they are even more
likely to pay bribes.
The survey showed that 22 percent of people that have
come into contact with a public service in the past 12
months said they paid a bribe.
Police regularly rate as highly corrupt, however, there was a
strongly negative assessment of business executives.
Business was followed by government officials, tax officials,
judges and magistrates, members of parliament, local
government councilors, office of the presidency, traditional
leaders and religious leaders.
These facts gave a new dimension to the issue of
corruption in the continent, compared to previous surveys.
Transparency International Chairman, José Ugaz, said :
“Corruption creates and increases poverty and exclusion. While
corrupt individuals with political power enjoy a lavish life,
millions of Africans are deprived of their basic needs like food,
health, education, housing, access to clean water and
sanitation.”
Ugaz urged governments and judges to stop corruption,
eradicate impunity and implement Goal 16 of the
Sustainable Development Goals to curb corruption.
“ We also call on the people to demand honesty and
transparency, and mobilize against corruption. It is time to say
enough and unmask the corrupt,” chairman added.
Despite all disappointing findings, there were still bright
spots across the continent and those were in Botswana,
Burkina Faso, Lesotho and Senegal.
The survey disclosed that citizens in these countries were
some of the most positive in the region regarding the issues
of corrupt practices in their various nations.
