The Office of the Special Prosecutor has launched a corruption league table to rank public institutions against each other.
The programmed dubbed; ‘Ghana Corruption League Table (GCLT)’ will score local institutions and produce a league table of the most corrupt to the least corrupt institutions.
The Attorney General and Minister for Justice launched the programme in Accra yesterday, 22 March 2022. The launch drew dignitaries from sister anti-corruption institutions, Civil society groups, academia and members of the Diplomatic Corps.
The difference between the GCLT and other rankings in Ghana lies in the process, methodology and the purpose of the league table. Speaking to stakeholders at the launch the Special Prosecutor (SP) Kissi Agyebeng, said the launch of the Corruption League Table is the first step to his promise of making corruption an expensive adventure in the country.
“On 22 July 2021, during my approval process before Parliament, I declared my resolve to render corruption a costly adventure on all accounts. I intimated that, as part of the charge given to the Office of the Special Prosecutor to take steps to prevent corruption under section 2(c) of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959), I would institute a corruption league table intended to drive down corruption in the public sector. Today marks the commencement of the realisation of that vision.”
The Special Prosecutor is of the firm belief that a successful implementation of the Ghana Corruption League Table will guide the formulation of policies to curb graft in Ghana’s public space.
“The results would form the basis for enhanced pragmatic suppression and repression of corruption in the public sector.
“…the project would identify the causes that advance corruption in the public sector including deficiencies in regulations and procedures, deficiencies in administration of instructions (including lack of internal control mechanisms), individual interest (including greed, lack of ethicalness and legal awareness), and external influences (including public attitude, culture and traditions) – to facilitate the prevention of corruption,” he said.
To demonstrate that this impending attack on corruption and corruption-related offences has the backing of the state, the Deputy Attorney General, Hon. Alfred Tuah-Yeboah who represented the AG, Godfred Dame, did the launch.
Hon. Alfred Tuah-Yeboah congratulated and lauded the OSP for such an initiative and was firm in his conviction that the Ghana Corruption League Table will achieve its purpose.
Speaking at the launch he said: “I believe the Ghana Corruption League Table, which is also another index to be constructed by the Office of the Special Prosecutor will be used as an important gauge by the public sector agencies in managing corruption risks when conducting businesses. It will prompt the agencies to review their compliance programs, identify any compliance risks that may be previously undetected and make adjustments accordingly.”
The GCLT is wholly owned by the OSP. It is collaborating with experts from Afrobarometer at the Ghana Centre for Democratic Devevelopment and Ghana Intergirty Initiative. Making a presentation on behalf of the team, Dr. Edem Selormey said CDD-Ghana and GIi have the experience and technical know-how to deliver the GCLT envisioned by the OSP.
“Other known rankings collect data on the perception of corruption from their respective sources and rank the responses. The GCLT, however, will use specially designed instruments to collect data on perception and actual experiences of corruption and undertake a gap analysis of institutional frameworks leading to recommendations on how to deal with vulnerabilities and exposures to corruption at the institutions covered”.
The Purpose
The purpose of the GCLT as noted by the SP is in line with regulation 31(2) of the Office of the Special Prosecutor (Operations) Regulations, 2018 (L.I. 2374). It would identify the causes that advance corruption in the public sector including deficiencies in regulations and procedures, deficiencies in administration of instructions (including lack of internal control mechanisms), individual interest (including greed, lack of ethicalness and legal awareness), and external influences (including public attitude, culture and traditions) – to facilitate the prevention of corruption.
Further, all public institutions, departments, agencies, and companies would be required to prepare and submit Integrity Plans intended at assessing deficiencies in their regulations, procedures, policies, guidelines, administration instructions and internal control mechanisms to determine their vulnerability and exposure to corrupt practices and the prescription of curative measures to manage such susceptibility to corruption and corruption-related offences.
Some of the dignitaries at yesterday event included: Canadian Ambassador to Ghana, Kati Csaba, a representative of the US Ambassador to Ghana; Switzerland Ambassador to Ghana; and the EU mission in Accra.
Also present was the Executive Secretary of the EOCO, Maame Tiwaa Addo Danquah present and Members of African Parliamentarians Netowork Against Corruption (APNAC) led by its Vice-Chairman, Hon. Kofi Okyere Agyekum and Hon. Alhassan Sayibu Suhiyini, MP for Tamale North Constituency.
