The country dropped three points from its 2016 score of 43 to 40 in 2017, and ranked 81 out of the total of 180 countries.

Cumulatively, Ghana has dropped eight points since 2016, the CPI which was released Wednesday, February 21 by Transparency International showed.

The CPI score indicates the perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of zero (being highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).

Executive Director of the Ghana Integrity Initiative, Linda Ofori- Kwafo, said Ghana’s poor score in 2017 is a reflection of inadequate investigations, prosecutions and sanctioning of corrupt officials.

Presenting the report, she said Ghana performed “not too good”.

“Since the CPI became comparable from the period 2012 to now, this is the worst performance that Ghana has had. This year, 2017CPI, we are saying Ghana’s performance from 2012 is the worst so far,” Mrs Ofori-Kwafo indicated.

She was however optimistic the situation could improve in the next three years by which time the various government interventions put in place to check corruption in the public sector would have started yielding results.

The newly created Office of the Special Prosecutor, the paperless port system and the Ghana Post digital addressing system were some of the initiatives she observed could help Ghana shore up its ranking

“When we are able to get the gains of the new initiatives; the paperless port, the digital addressing system and the powers of the Auditor General to do the disallowance and surcharging and then office of the special prosecutor that has come on board…if all these initiatives work very well for us, we’re hoping that in a year, two years, three years to come, we should see a rise in Ghana’s CPI,” she expressed.

Generally, the 2017 CPI showed majority of countries were making little or no progress in ending corruption.

It also showed journalists and activists in corrupt countries were risking their lives daily in an effort to speak out against corruption.

New Zealand and Denmark ranked highest with scores of 89 and 88 respectively while Syria, South Sudan and Somalia rank lowest with scores of 14, 12 and 9 respectively.

Read Also: iWatch Africa participates in a three-day workshop with Anti-Corruption Call Partners

Western Europe was identified as the best performing region with an average score of 66 with the worst performing regions being Sub-Saharan Africa (with an average score of 32) and Eastern Europe and Central Asia (with an average score of 34).

Report by Gideon Sarpong | iWatch Africa

The post Corruption: Ghana records worst performance in six years appeared first on iWatch Africa.

Documents reviewed by iWatch Africa indicates that the said amount was supposedly owed to thirty-four companies for various services provided as at 31 December, 2016; but the ministry failed to provide relevant documentations to the Auditor-General arguing that the records could not be traced.

The claim of GH¢34,017,015.00 was however rejected by the Auditor-General.

GYEEDA, a social intervention programme aimed at providing employable skills to the youth in the country recorded some shady deals in its hay days.

Background to GYEEDA corruption scandal

Some companies including waste and sanitation giant, Zoomlion Ghana Limited, IT company RLG, Better Ghana Management service limited, among others were contracted to render services under various modules for the GYEEDA programme; which metamorphosed from the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP).

GYEEDA which was a public initiative targeted at youth development however failed to achieve its purpose as it was charaterised by shady deals and corruption related activities.

Following reports of siphoning of state funds, government in 2012 ordered for an investigation into activities of GYEEDA and subsequently terminated the contracts with the various companies.

Read Also: Over GH¢1.2 billion saved after MoH contracts were reassessed in 2017 [Infographic]

Former GYEEDA boss, Abuga Pele and Philip Assibit were later hauled before court for the various roles in the corruption in the programme.

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By Moro Seidu, Edited by Gideon Sarpong | iWatch Africa

The post Gov’t rejected GYEEDA payment claims of over GH¢34 million in 2017 appeared first on iWatch Africa.

This means that the government managed to save over GH¢1.2 billion which otherwise would have been paid out as liability claims.

Another very troubling development discovered during the assessment of the report on Liabilities of Ministries in Ghana was the difficulty of the Ministry of Finance (MoF) to reconcile its liability portfolio with figures provided by the Ministry of Health which resulted in huge discrepancies.

For example; a schedule of debt compiled by MoF on behalf of Ghana Health Service asserted that government was indebted to five contractors totaling GH¢14,742,846.39 as at 31 December, 2016. However, MoH asserted that government liability in relation to various transactions was GH¢1,003,951.30 as at 31 December, 2016.

Read Also: Gov’t rejected payment claims of over GH¢40 million to Zoomlion in 2017

Below is an infographic breakdown of the liability claims that were rejected by the Auditor General under the Ministry of Health in 2017.

Report by  Gideon Sarpong | Policy Analyst |  iWatch Africa

The post Over GH¢1.2 billion saved after MoH contracts were reassessed in 2017 [Infographic] appeared first on iWatch Africa.

The new figure shows that Ghana’s debt increased by 1.3 billion cedis from May to June 2017 as the month of May recorded a debt stock of 137.3 billion cedis.

The figures were contained in statement published by the Bank of Ghana after the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting on Friday, September 20, 2017.

The data showed that the external component of the debt was 74.6 billion cedis, representing 36.9 percent of the GDP, while domestic debt was 63.9 billion representing 31.6 percent.

In the same period under review, Ghana’s debt to GDP ratio stood at 68.6 percent, below the end of year target of 70 percent mark.

It is not clear what could have led to the geometric rise in the debt stock but some financial experts believe fresh borrowing by government and marginal depreciation of the cedis could be blamed.

However, the government has observed it is putting a cap on public debt through measures that will reduce it to an appreciable level.

Read Also: Over 30 percent of teachers in KGs across Ghana are not trained

It cited its debt profiling strategy and the lengthening of the yield curve in sourcing long-term loans to finance short-term debts as some of the measures it has put in place.

Gideon Sarpong | Policy and Content Analyst | iWatch Africa

The post Ghana’s public debt stock rises to ¢138.6 billion appeared first on iWatch Africa.

Our assessment of the 2016 Auditor’s report on the Consolidated Fund revealed that the Office of Government Machinery (General Government Services) was allotted GH¢ 2,988,826,659 as represented in the revised budget for 2016 but managed to spend GH¢ 6,103,994,114.

The variance of GH¢ 3,115,167,455 was mainly spent on goods and services details of which were not highlighted in the report.

The over GH¢ 3 billion in excess expenditure is well over a 100 percent of their allotted budget.

The Auditor General blamed the Budget Division of the Ministry of Finance for failing to ensure that approved activities were regularly monitored and reviewed against the approved budget which resulted in the excess expenditure.

Every year, the Auditor-General makes serious findings of many instances of misapplication of colossal amounts by public office holders but has failed to make significant progress when it comes to recovery of misappropriated and misapplied funds.

The Supreme Court in July 2017 granted reliefs sought by pressure group, Occupy Ghana, in respect of the Auditor-General’s powers of disallowance and surcharges. According to the Court, the Auditor-General must issue disallowance and surcharges in respect of all state monies found to have been expended contrary to law.

Read Also: Over GH¢600 million in off-shore accounts at risk of abuse & recovery

The Court also ordered the Auditor-General to take the appropriate steps to recover all amounts lost to the state, and this covers private persons. The Attorney-General was also ordered to ensure enforcement of the orders including criminal prosecution where necessary.

Report Gideon Sarpong  | iWatch Africa

The post Office of the Presidency overspent budget by over GH¢ 3 billion in 2016 appeared first on iWatch Africa.

Read Also: How Assemblies in Ghana mismanaged their Common Fund [Infographic]

Below is a regional breakdown of how the Assemblies mismanaged the Common Fund;

Credit: Gideon Sarpong | iWatch Africa

The post Video: How Assemblies mismanaged the Common Fund- Ranking appeared first on iWatch Africa.

The Government of Ghana in its effort to achieve equitable access to health care services has committed to undertake certain capital investments in the health sector.

Read Also: Health: Areas GoG has promised capital expenditure [Infographic]

Below is a review of government’s health commitments by iWatch Africa’s Policy and Content Analyst, Gideon Sarpong.

The post Video: iWatch Africa review of GoG commitments in the health sector appeared first on iWatch Africa.

The Government of Ghana on a number of occasions, established collateral agreements with third party Institutions on behalf of some SOEs. In this respect, CAG is required to assign designated bank accounts with a minimum deposit to absorb the liability in case of default by the SOEs.

CAG accordingly opened five offshore accounts outside the treasury system with total a deposit of GH¢676,096,128 as follows.

Banko Du Brazil- Hanger project – 69,486,464
Banko Du Brazil- Eastern corridor – 24,049,241
CDB owner contribution – 206,380,064
CDB Debt Service Reserve 366,604,322
CDB Collection Account 9,576,037

However, the Consolidated Fund report for 2016 indicates that no accounting records with enabling terms and agreement were maintained by Controller and Accountant General Department (CAGD) on these accounts.

Read Also: Ministry of Finance released close to GH¢30 million to the Electoral Commission without following proper legal guidelines

The only documentation provided by the CAGD according to the report was three bank statements (VOSTRO Accounts) from the China Development Bank Corporation.

The report also indicated that confirmation listing or periodic statements to facilitate effective monitoring and ownership affirmation for future recoveries were also not available.

This contravenes Regulation 191 of FAR 2004, (LI 1802) which require CAG to support the Public Accounts with notes and other qualifying information.

Another issue which is of much concern is that, the administering responsibility for the five securities which represented 12% of total cash and cash equivalents figure of GH¢5.5 million was not clear or assigned to any of the Directorates.

Read Also: Full List: Volta Region ranked 1st for mismanagement of Assemblies’ Common Fund

These lapses however mean it is difficult to obtain reasonable assurance on the completeness and existence of all the total account balances and this goes to show the disdain public officials display when it comes to protecting the public purse.

Mr Seidu Kotomah, former Controller and Accountant General could not be reached for comment.

iWatch Africa’s, Gideon Sarpong takes a paranomic look at this issue in the video below;

More to follow.

Report by Moro Omar Saeed | Edited by Gideon Sarpong | iWatch Africa

The post Video: Over GH¢600 million in off-shore accounts at risk of abuse & recovery appeared first on iWatch Africa.

The Controller and Accountant General Department (CAGD), under the Ministry of Finance is mandated by law to use the Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information Systems (GIFMIS) in disbursement of public funds.

The GIFMIS was launched in 2009 to promote efficiency, transparency and accountability in public financial management through rationalization and modernization of budgeting and public expenditure management.

iWatch Africa assessment of the Consolidated Fund 2016 revealed that the CAGD released the said amount to the Electoral commission which also processed and expensed the amounts to their suppliers outside the GIFMIS.

iWatch Africa can confirm that this happened despite assurances by the CAGD to the Auditor General in 2014 and 2015 that such anomalies would not be repeated.

Read Also: Greater Accra Assemblies mismanaged over GH¢1.5 million in 2016 [Infographic]

Management of the Electoral Commission have argued that the GIFMIS was down and the 2016 voter registration exercise which was time bound occasioned the usage of a bank account which was yet to be set up on GIFMIS.

Read Also: Northern Region Assemblies fail to properly account for over GH¢12 million alloted funds

Section 25(6) of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) requires that, all Government of Ghana commitments are captured and processed on GIFMIS without exceptions.

Report by Moro Seidu, | Edited by Gideon Sarpong | iWatch Africa

The post Ministry of Finance released close to GH¢30 million to the Electoral Commission without following proper legal guidelines appeared first on iWatch Africa.

iWatch Africa assessment of the Auditor General’s report also revealed that out of a total GH¢ 352,286,432.22 allotted to all 216 Assemblies, GH¢ 70,173,645.97, representing 19.92% was not properly accounted for.

Assemblies in the Volta Region mismanaged most of the funds that were allotted them. Out of a total of GH¢ 39,846,537.39 released to the twelve Assemblies in the Volta Region in 2016, GH¢ 13,428,234.45, representing 33% was not properly accounted for.

This finding is alarming especially as the current administration expects 85% of local government budget for 2017 to be funded by donors.

Below is an infographic report:

Credit: Gideon Sarpong | iWatch Africa

The post How Assemblies in Ghana mismanaged their Common Fund [Infographic] appeared first on iWatch Africa.