Corruption fight: Your efforts have had zero impact on Ghana’s CPI ranking – Franklin Cudjoe tells Akufo-Addo

President of Policy Think Tank IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe, has chastised President Akufo-Addo for touting his government’s achievements in the fight against corruption.

Mr Cudjoe described President Akufo-Addo’s “boastful efforts” as “mere do-little efforts” that have had zero impact on the country’s corruption ranking on the Global Corruption Perception Index.

For the fourth consecutive year, Ghana has remained stagnant, with a score of 43 out of 100 on the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) released by Transparency International (TI).

Released in January this year, the 2023 CPI shows Ghana tied for 70th place (with Benin, Oman, Senegal, Timor-Leste, Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste) out of 180 countries.

This marks a low point compared to Ghana’s highest score of 48 in 2014.

But President Akufo-Addo, in his speech during the commissioning of the newly completed office complex for the Attorney-General and Ministry of Justice in Accra on Monday, emphasised that the fight against corruption has been the cornerstone of his administration.

Additionally, the President underscored the completion of ‘The Law House’ as part of his government’s commitment to fighting corruption.

“It is a lie!”, Franklin Cudjoe wrote on Facebook in response to the President’s assertions, adding that, “All those investments you speak of are mere do-little efforts that have had ZERO impact on Ghana’s ranking on the Global Corruption Perception Index.”

“Your best record is your predecessor’s worst!”, the governance commentator stated.

Describing the President as “my dear friend”, Mr Cudjoe urged him to “stop boasting about fighting corruption.”

Corruption

Mr Cudjoe further reminded the President of the incident of his appointee and former Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Dapaah, who stashed millions of both foreign and local hard cash in her residence.

He indicated to the President that these incidents feed into the “grand theft” of African resources by the political class, estimated at $4,700 per second.

He said: “The theatrical comedy of errors engineered in the case of the missing millions of $$ [dollars] some appointees stash away feed into the grand theft of Africa’s resources, estimated at $4700 per second using 2005 AU statistics.”

“Please let us meet and go over our notes,” he requested of the President.