Presidency placed second on the corruption perception index league-Afrobarometer

Following the voting into the highest office of Ghana the widely acclaimed human rights activist, one would have thought that corruption would be the least smeared on his government, but the story is different from the expectations of many.

Surprisingly, what Ghanaians have experienced is a sharp contrast from their anticipation as President Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo- Addo and his government has been smeared with wettable levels of corruption following the revelation from the corruption perception index.

Making the presentation, the Director of Research at the  Centre for Democratic Development, Dr. Edem Selormey indicated that the Afrobarometer survey conducted has placed the highest office of Ghana, second behind the Ghana Police Service as the most corrupt. 

The unveiling of the report which came off last Tuesday, July 25, 2022, in Accra further revealed that the Ghana Police Service (GPS)remained in the top spot as the most corrupt public institution with 65%, Presidency with 55%MPs scoring  54%, Magistrate scoring 46%, Tax officials scoring 46%, EC -45%, Civil servant scoring 45%MMDCEs scoring 41%and Business Executives scoring 38%.

The rest were Assembly Men and women scoring 34%, Traditional leaders scoring 31%, Religious leaders 27%, Public Media 27%, Private Media 27%, and NGOs scoring 22%, a matter bemoaned by discussants.

The methodology of the research was nationally representative of adult citizens and a well-distributed sample across the regions and urban or rural areas with a standard questionnaire.

With a sample size of 2400 adult citizens, the research yielded a margin of plus two(+2) percentage points at a 95% confidence level.

Respondents, according to the research, were asked a wide range of questions including "In a democracy, is it better if power sometimes changes hands in elections from one political party to another? n a democracy, as long as a government is elected by the people in a free and fair election, does it matter, amongst others??

Majority of Ghanaians rate the performance of the President, their MP, and their Assembly Members as "fairly" or "very bad" as per the research.

It further revealed that positive ratings of the President's performance have declined by 31 percentage points between 2019 and 2022, thus, from 61% to 30%.

The research further said that while the demand for democracy and the perceived supply of democracy in Ghana have fluctuated over the years, satisfaction with the country's democracy has been on a downward trajectory since 2017.

Assessment of Ghana as a full democracy or a democracy with minor problems has declined by 21 percentage points since 2017, while satisfaction with how democracy works has decreased by 29 points.

The research further disclosed that a large majority want people to be careful with what they say about political party competition which always or often leads to violent conflict.

Assembly Members, on the other hand,  the research stated, hardly listen to what people say.

Mrs. Linda Ofori-Kwao, Executive Director, Ghana Integrity Initiative expressed grave concern about the growing trend within the Ghanaian political landscape and called for immediate mitigation of the same to safeguard the future.

Story: Prosper Kwaku Selassy Agbitor