“We are not taking lifestyle audits seriously in this country; we are a country that values the illicit acquisition of wealth,” he told discussants as one of the panellists at a roundtable.

It was on the topic: “Rethinking Ghana’s anti-corruption strategies: A decade’s trend analysis of the Corruption Perception Index (CPI)”.

The roundtable was organised by the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), in the wake of the 2021 CPI that ranked Ghana 73rd out of 180 countries with a score of 43 per cent.

According to Dr. Oduro-Osae, people were given positions in churches and society because of the wealth they had, without questioning the sources of such wealth; with public officers owning mansions in plush areas of towns and cities, regardless of how much they earned.

He said a lifestyle audit of public servants would embolden the citizenry to question illegal gain.

He also advocated the depoliticisation of recruitment into the public service, saying that in certain instances, people had been employed without going through due processes or even attending interviews, and said that had to end.

He said all that would be part of the fight against corruption.

Score

Last week, Transparency International (TI) released the 2021 CPI scores and Ghana scored 43 out or 100.

“This CPI score indicates that Ghana failed to make progress in the fight against corruption in 2021, as the score of 43 is the same as the country’s 2020 score,” a press statement issued by the GII, the local chapter of TI, said.

Perception, reality

Speaking about the CPI as she welcomed participants to the meeting, the Executive Director of the GII, Mrs. Linda Ofori-Kwafo, said: “Some are quick to say it’s a perception; however, CPIs are really about the experiences of citizens.

CPIs are not merely about the perception of people but also experiences and are indicative of the canker.”

“We recently heard that the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) were collaborating to undertake a survey on corruption. We wait to see whether the results from the survey will be significantly different from the CPI.

“I tell you, the values for both will be the same,” she added emphatically.

She said discussions had to result in “what we can do” to change the narrative of corruption in Ghana.

Mrs. Ofori-Kwafo bemoaned Ghana’s stagnation on the CPI, despite laws, regulations and advocacy.

“The key word is ‘action’. We must act; we must act and act now!” she urged all.

Discussion

The panel discussion for concrete actions in the anti-corruption campaign had the Co-chair of the Citizens Movement Against Corruption, Edem Senanu; the Executive Secretary of the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC), Mrs. Beauty Emefa Narteh; the CEO of the Ghana Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors and Senior Research Fellow of the Ghana Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), Dr. Cynthia Tagoe, discussing future strategies.

Key issues discussed were the need for the establishment of a democracy fund, mechanisms to audit public officials and eliminating public office corruption.