A former Executive Director of the Ghana Integrity Initiative, Vitus Azeem has described Ghana’s score and performance on Transparency International’s 2021 Corruption Perception Index as a complete failure and a divergence from the virtues and ethics leaders of the county often proclaim.
He said Ghana’s score of 43, the global average, is an indictment on the supposed political and financial commitment to the fight against corruption by this current Administration. Mr. Azeem said the situation is even made worse, when a look is taken at Ghana’s position when it comes to the African ranking, taking into consideration Ghana’s position as the first in democracy, political enlightenment and many others.
He said this when he spoke Samuel Mbura on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East.
“When you come to Africa, Ghana should be number one or number two. Unfortunately, when we are not even number 3, 4 or 5. We are number 9 among the African countries. Yet, we always boast of being the first African country or the sub-Saharan African country to have democracy. We boast of our democratic credentials. Our Presidents travel out and talk about how they are putting up measures to control corruption yet we only go out there to borrow money with big entourages and chartered commercial flights. We have failed in our efforts to address corruption,” he said.
Mr. Azeem admitted that corruption had persisted through successive governments but fingered the Nana Akufo Addo-led government as being the worst in dealing with corruption.
He continued to say that while corruption is perverse at the basic levels of society, it is the preserve of government, led by the president who commands to the resources of the country to institute measures to address all corruption-related concerns.
“The system is corrupt. The citizens are corrupt but we have elected a president, he has put in place a government to rule the country. So we expect him to do what he promised us based on which we voted for him. If the country is not performing well, we have no choice but to blame him,” he added.
A1Radioonline.com|101.1MHZ|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Bolgatanga|
