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President John Dramani Mahama has said the latest Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) gives a clear indication that the nation is on the right path in the fight against corruption.

“From 2012 until 2015, Ghana climbed up no less than eight places in the world hierarchy which, no matter what others might say, is an unparalleled achievement,” he wrote on his Facebook wall yesterday.

“Without a doubt, Ghana’s results clearly show that we’re on the right path,” the President said.

The CPI ranking

In the latest edition, Ghana was ranked 56th out of 168 countries, with a score of 47, which makes it the seventh best African country on the index.

The score is below six Africa countries, namely, Botswana, 63; Cape Verde, 55; Seychelles, 55; Rwanda, 54, and Mauritius and Namibia, which scored 53 each.

A statement from the local chapter of TI, the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), last Wednesday announcing the score said, “The CPI 2015 scored Ghana 47 out of clean score of 100 and ranked the country 56th out of 168 countries.”

It said Ghana’s score and ranking indicated that the performance of the country was “much better than several other African countries, including South Africa, Senegal and Tunisia”.

Launched in 1995, the CPI is based on the expert opinions of public sector corruption worldwide.

Countries score can be helped by open government where the public can hold leaders to account, while a poor score is a sign of prevalent bribery, lack of punishment for corruption and public institutions that do not respond to citizens’ needs.

‘Fight is visible’

President Mahama said from the ranking, there was no doubt that the fight against corruption was visible.

“In 2008, Ghana was ranked 67th in the world and in 2012 it was ranked 64th. Since 2008, we are constantly moving upward towards the group of less corrupt countries, and that’s a fact.

“Although the (2015) score is slightly lower than the one for 2014, we moved upward when it comes to ranking, from 61st place in the world in 2014 to 56th,” he wrote.

He also touched on the fact that Ghana was today perceived as less corrupt than some advanced economies, which was a plus for the nation.

“Ghana today is perceived as less corrupt than important countries such as Italy, Greece, Brazil and China. More importantly, Ghana is one of the least corrupt countries in Africa,” the President said.

Caution

But he cautioned against being carried away by the improvement made.

“We all know that we still have a lot to do when it comes to fighting corruption. All of us, not only the government, should be more involved in this fight,” he said while thanking Ghanaians for the part they had played in achieving the result.