By Maxwell Awumah, GNA
Ho, Feb. 27, GNA – An anti-corruption initiative towards enhancing governance and accountability has ended in Ho.
The forum was organised by Transparency International, Ghana (TI-Ghana); Ghana Anti- Corruption Coalition (GACC) and Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) with support from the British High Commission under the auspices of the UK International Development.
It was attended by Civil Society Coalitions, Trade Unions, youth groups, Tertiary level unions, community-based groups, Political parties, student leaders, security agencies, traditional leaders and the media.
This event gives citizens an opportunity to assess the government’s commitment to combating corruption and to compare it with its manifesto promises made during the Election 2024.
The workshop was designed to mobilise civic force to push the anti-corruption agenda, provide an analysis of Ghana’s Anti-corruption efforts during the one-year of President Mahama’s administration.
It intended to identify key implementation gaps and systemic barriers to effective anti-corruption enforcement and collaborative ways, as well as plan for identifiable groups like the Trade Unions, Media and CSOs to work together to fight corruption in the Volta Region.
Mr Francis Asong, the former Board member of TI Ghana, in a welcoming remark observed that corruption was pervasive and remained deeply embedded in many sectors of Ghana’s national life.
It was responsible for weakening institutions, distorting public policy, undermining service delivery, and eroding public trust in leadership and governance.
“Anti-corruption must therefore be understood as a national integrity project — one that demands collective civic resolve, organised citizen action, and sustained institutional reform,” he added.
Mr Asong said the forum provided the space to mobilise, analyse, strategise, and most importantly, commit to fighting corruption and with clearly defined advocacy priorities, concrete follow-up mechanisms, and a renewed and actionable commitment to integrity.
Mr Michael Kwame Boadi, the Fundraising Manager TI Ghana, indicated that Corruption continued to be a critical threat to Ghana’s socio-economic development, eroding trust in public institutions and degrade the moral fortitude of the state.
He said he wondered why the fight against corruption had been rough, when the country had all the laws and independent institutions to deal with the canker.
He mentioned that the Internal Audit Agency Act, 2003 (Act 658), whistleblowers Act, 2006 (Act 720), Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2008 (Act 749), Economic and Organized Crime Office Act, 2010 (Act 804), Right to Information Act, 2019 (Act 989) and Office of the Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (ACT 959), were enough to fight corruption.
He said although Ghana’s ranking among countries in the corruption perception index had climbed up eleven places (from 71 to 81) between 2017 and 2023 among 180 countries, its score had not significantly improved over the same period.
“Between 2020 and 2023, the country’s score remained relatively stable (42/100), but sadly, it rose marginally to 43/100 in 2025.
Mr Boadi recounted that campaign and manifesto messages by mainstream political parties usually becomes unfulfilled on assumption of power with several anti-corruption promises made, for instance, during the 2024 election.
Shining light on the National Democratic Congress (NDC)-led administration on anti-corruption commitment and accountability, the manifesto highlight limiting ministerial appointments to a maximum of 60, abolishing ex-gratia payments, addressing disparities between Article 71 officeholders and the broader public service, enacting conflict-of-interest law, amend the asset declaration law and initiate prohibition of purchase of state asset by appointees, politically exposed persons and serving public officials.
Others were, establishing an Independent Emoluments Commission through the merger of the Presidential Commission on Emoluments and the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission and transition from NACAP I (2015-2024) to the National Ethics and Anti-Corruption Action Plan (NEACAP, 2026-2030) with stronger political commitment and adequate funding.
Government’s anti-corruption efforts included Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL), restrictions on politically exposed persons acquiring state assets, procurement reforms and Code of conduct and ethics for political appointee, special courts to handle cases arising from adverse Auditor-General findings, he said.
He entreated all citizens to reposition themselves to demanding accountability and appealed to the traditional leaders, CSOs and Unions to champion the rather difficult fight against corrupion.
In a call to action, the Forum firmly believed that the opportunity to influence how Ghana was governed relative to anti-corruption was a mutual responsibility as stated in Article 34 (8) of the 1992 Constitution, that the citizens and State take steps to eradicate corruption.
It enjoined all in the fight against corruption by reporting, advocating and refusing to be corrupt.
GNA
Edited by: Maxwell Awumah/ Christabel Addo