GHANA Country Profile

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Public Anti-Corruption Initiatives

• Legislation: The Criminal Code criminalises corruption in the form of active and passive bribery, extortion, wilful exploitation of public office and the use of public office for private gain. Direct and indirect corruption is illegal and both agent and principal are liable, while the nationality of the person who is bribing or being bribed is irrelevant. Attempting, preparing or conspiring to bribe is illegal. The Anti-Money Laundering Act 2008 criminalises money laundering. The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) has criticised the fact that the Criminal Code does not cover conflict of interest. GII argues that this should be included since Ghana has ratified international conventions (United Nations Convention against Corruption and African Union) covering this offence. Ghana is in the process of developing an anti-corruption policy for the private sector through reforms to the Business Code in order to 'robustly confront private sector corruption' in accordance with the UNCAC and the 10th Principle of the UN Global Compact. In 2003, the government passed the Public Procurement Act, the Financial Administration Act, and the Internal Audit Agency Act to promote public sector accountability and combat corruption. However, a lack of implementation capacity has prevented the legislation from fully taking effect, and the allocated budget has not provided sufficient resources to reverse this trend. Legislation in relation to reforming the Serious Fraud Office to create a new and stronger institution, and a Freedom of Information Act remains in the legislative pipeline. Consult the Lexadin World Law Guide for a collection of laws in Ghana.

• Government Strategies: In order to demonstrate continued progress in the fight against corruption, former President Kufuor restructured government ministries in early 2006. This was done to reduce some of the bureaucratic overlap between ministries and to force out a number of ministers who had been implicated in corruption scandals. However, a number of ministers accused of graft remained in office and were not subjected to investigation. In October 2007, the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament held a public hearing on the findings of a 2005 Auditor General report. This was the first time such a hearing was made open to the media and to the public. The hearing revealed widespread abuse and misapplication of public funds. Such open hearings have been widely recognised as an important step towards greater transparency in public spending. President Mills has stressed his government's commitment to fight corruption and confront Ghana's problems of narcotics trafficking but concrete steps are still to be seen. The government has declared its intention to pass the Freedom of Information Act initiated by the Kufuor administration and to set up an independent body to manage Ghana's expected oil revenue and thereby ensure transparency.

• Anti-Corruption Agency: The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) forms one of Ghana's two main anti-corruption bodies. It functions as a human rights commission and Ombudsman and is constitutionally independent. It is a large and relatively well-funded agency with around 200 staff members in Accra and several offices throughout the country. The CHRAJ has been investigating allegations made against the former President Kufuor over the use of state resources for private gain. Some observers see this as a sign of both genuine independence of the CHRAJ and the former government's commitment to implementing its zero-tolerance policy towards corruption. Doig, Watt & Williams 2005 report that civil society considers the CHRAJ to be strong on human rights concerns and as an Ombudsman, but weak on corruption. Critics argue that the weakness is due to fact that the CHRAJ is not economically independent from the government. In 2009 the CHRAJ launched a Code of Conduct for public officials, and a working group has been established with the aim of developing a national anti-corruption plan.

• Serious Fraud Office (SFO): The SFO is the second main anti-corruption body in Ghana. It is a public investigative agency that was established by the SFO Act of 1993 (Act 466) to monitor, investigate and, on the authority of the Attorney General, prosecute any corrupt practices involving both private and public institutions likely to result in serious financial or economic loss to the state. The SFO has been criticised for lacking independence from political forces and for lacking the authority to independently prosecute suspects. The former Attorney-General and now Minister for Justice Joe Ghartey has been advising the government to adequately resource the creation of the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) in order to better meet the task of combating the complex financial crimes of today. The mandate of the SFO does not extend to the investigation and prosecution of offences related to advance fee fraud scams, drug trafficking, money laundering and other organised crimes. The EOCO is intended to eventually replace the SFO, presumably with a stronger mandate.

• The Office of Accountability (OA): The OA was established by former President Kufuor in 2003 to monitor corruption in the public service, particularly by political appointees and senior civil servants. The mandate of the OA is derived from the executive authority of the President and is prevention focused. The appointment of the head of the OA, who was the wife of a senior policy advisor to former President Kufuor and mother of an assistant to former President Kufuor, led to criticism and the questioning of the OA's independence.

• Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC): The GACC is a cross-sector grouping of public, private and civil society organisations (CSOs) focusing on monitoring and evaluating the anti-corruption process. The GACC is composed of two executive branch organisations in the field of anti-corruption, the Serious Fraud Office and the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice. The private sector umbrella organisation is made up of the Private Enterprise Foundation (PEF), and the umbrella organisation for religious bodies, the Forum of Religious Bodies (FORB). There are four CSOs advancing the cause of transparency, accountability and good governance under the GACC. These are the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), the Centre for Democratic Development Ghana (CDD), the Ghana Journalist Association (GJA) and the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) (see more on a selection of these organisations under 'Private Anti-Corruption Initiatives' in the Initiatives section). As a part of its Media and Advocacy Programme GACC also collaborates with several media institutions on informing the public of the importance of fighting corruption. The strategic aim of the GACC is to not only monitor and evaluate the anti-corruption process, but also to lobby, educate, influence and commit the government to mainstream anti-corruption measures and ongoing governance programmes.

• Ghana Investment Advisory Council (GIAC): The President relies on advice from the World Bank-established GIAC to attract foreign investment and to counter corruption as a disincentive to investors. The 30-member GIAC consists of multinational and local companies as well as institutional observers (IMF, WB, UNDP), and helps shape government policy in order to create an enabling investment environment. Since the early 1990s, Ghana has embarked on a privatisation programme that, with the help of the GIAC, has resulted in the sale of approximately 350 state-owned companies. Foreign entities primarily comprise of the bidders for these companies. Few local investors have sufficient capital to participate in this process except as partners with foreign companies.

• Auditor General: The Bertelsmann Foundation 2010 reports that the diversion of funds and the inappropriate use of otherwise designated budget allocations has not been a serious problem in Ghana in recent years. However, business executives surveyed in the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report 2009-2010 report that it is not uncommon that public funds are diverted to companies, individuals, or groups due to corruption. The government practices fiscal discipline and carries out intense monitoring of spending. The most recent report from the Ghana Audit Service (GAS) has been central in the documentation and disclosure of irregular public procurement practices and corruption. The hearing of the Auditor General's report for 2005, held in November 2007, was open to the public and has lead to increased public debate on government spending. Global Integrity 2009 evaluates the work of GAS as 'strong'.

• Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GEITI): Ghana became an EITI pilot country in 2003. EITI is an international strategic alliance between governments, private companies, civil society groups and international organisations with the objective of publicising and accounting for revenues and expenses that come from extractive industries, such as oil, mining and other extractive resource industries. In 2006, GTZ, in its capacity as lead consultant, began supporting the Ghanaian government in its efforts to implement the EITI. In February 2007, the GEITI produced its first report covering payments and revenues for the first half of 2004.

• E-Governance: The Government of Ghana Official Website provides companies with links to various government ministries related to investing and doing business in Ghana, but directs companies to contact the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre for more robust investment and business advice and facilitation, including online registration and other services. The Ghana TradeNet (GTN) is an electronic trade portal set up to link trade operators, revenue agencies and regulatory bodies on one platform. The Ghana Customs Management System is an integrated part of the GTN and enables companies to complete several activities related to export and import electronically.

• Public Procurement: Former President Kufuor's administration sought to harmonise the many public procurement guidelines used in Ghana by enacting the Public Procurement Act in 2003. The act provides a comprehensive framework for developing and strengthening procurement institutions and operational processes in the context of poverty reduction, private sector development, good governance and anti-corruption. The act has also brought Ghana's public procurement policy in line with WTO standards, and standard tender documents have enhanced competition and improved efficiency and transparency in the procurement process. According to the act, any company found guilty of major violations of the procurement regulations will be prohibited from participating in future bids. However, according to Global Integrity 2009, efforts are not made to blacklist companies found guilty of bribery. The act is still in the implementation phase, but in March 2009, members of Parliament called for speeding up the implementation process as a measure to avert corruption. The Government of Ghana has established the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), which provides information on regulations and relevant laws and lists tenders on its website. Ghana's achievements in the implementation of the Public Procurement Act have been recognised by the OECD Development Assistance Committee as an important tool for checking corruption in the country. Furthermore, the Auditor General has cited that the implementation of the act has significantly reduced corruption in public procurement.

• Whistle-Blowing: Ghana's Whistleblower Act 2006 provides for the manner in which individuals may, in the public interest, disclose information that relates to unlawful or other illegal conduct or corrupt practices of others. The act provides for the protection against victimisation of persons who make these disclosures, and for a fund to reward individuals for doing so. Ghana has often been criticised in the past for its lack of effective protection of people who choose to report incidents of corruption. Although the Whistleblower Act 2006 has presumably led to better protection and provisions for whistleblowers, there have not been any reviews of the implementation of the act. According to Global Integrity 2009, the protection of whistleblowers is not always enforced in practice, neither in the public sector nor in the private, where a high unemployment rate deter people from reporting on cases of corruption or abuse of power by employers. The media has reported on such abuses, but no steps have been taken to investigate the reports. The law does not make provisions for an internal mechanism for civil servants to report cases of corruption, but complaints related to corruption in the public sector can be submitted to and handled anonymously by the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice. The Judicial Service of Ghana's Complaints Unit and the Police Intelligence and Professional Standards Bureau receive public complaints on the conduct of judicial staff and the police, respectively.

• General Comments on the Public Anti-Corruption Initiatives: The Government of Ghana has set up various anti-corruption bodies during the last decade. However, despite the promised policy of zero-tolerance, former President Kufuor did not manage to significantly curb corruption. Reducing corruption has proven difficult for several reasons. Several observers point out that Parliament and the independent anti-corruption institutions (the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice and the Serious Fraud Office) lack human, material and financial resources. Furthermore, Ghana's still excessive bureaucratic system encourages corruption and asset declarations by public officials are both unverifiable and inaccessible to the public. Conclusions from the public hearings of the 2005 Auditor General report confirm a continued need to strengthen the independence and capacity of the various accountability and anti-corruption institutions in Ghana. The persistence of these problems further illustrates the need to strengthen internal audit procurement and financial administration laws. Ghana's new policy of a liberal, private sector-driven development agenda still needs to be translated into action with the implementation of a complimentary robust private sector anti-corruption policy.