Pulse readers agree corruption on the rise

The vast majority of respondents to a Pulse.com.gh survey agree that corruption in Ghana has increased over the past year.

In an informal social media poll, Pulse.com.gh asked readers if they thought Ghana had become more or less corrupt over the past 12 months.

On Twitter, out of 20 respondents, 90 percent said corruption had increased.

On Facebook out of 26 responses on Facebook, 88 percent agreed.

The informal poll was inspired by President John Mahama rejecting results of the recent Transparency International report that indicated Ghana ranked second amongst the most perceived corrupt countries in Africa.

Respondents to the Transparency International survey indicated that about 71 percent people living in Ghana said corruption has increased over the last twelve months.

Speaking at a high level meeting on the National Anti-corruption Action Plan in Accra on Wednesday, Mahama said the survey was wrongly interpreted by the media.

He said it was “absolutely false” and accused the media of trying to create an “undignified title” for the country.

“There was no ranking in that report and it is absolutely false that Ghana is the second most corrupt country in Africa. We reject it completely.”

See more: Corruption is not about government - Bartidam

Meanwhile, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) said Mahama’s comments showed he was out of touch with the scale of corruption in Ghana.

In an interview with Citi News, NPP’s Director of Communications Nana Akomea said Mahama was pretending to fight the battle against corruption.

“Well it is clear that the President is out of touch on corruption in Ghana. Afrobarometer reported that Ghanaians perceive the office of the President to be the second most corrupt public institution.

“Then about four, five months later, the IEA, the Institute of Economic Affairs also did a corruption survey and reported that indeed Ghanaians perceive the office of the President to be the second most corrupt public institution in the country.”