The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has rejected claims by the government that the NDC is to be blamed for Ghana's poorest performance at the 2017 Corruption Perception Index (CPI).

The recent CPI saw the country drop 11 places from 70 to 81 out of 180 countries. Some critics have argued it signifies a loss in the fight against corruption.

The 2017 CPI scored Ghana 40 out of a possible clean score of 100 which is the lowest in the history of the country’s score since the inception of the CPI in 2012. However, government have attributed the drop in the ratings to acts of corruption under the erstwhile John Mahama-led NDC administration.

President Nana Akufo-Addo stated that the poor score by Ghana in the latest index by Transparency International is as a result of corruption cases in the previous government.

He indicated that the development illustrates the huge task ahead in fighting corruption in the country.

In a speech at the swearing-in ceremony of Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu on Friday, 23 February 2018 at the Flagstaff House, Mr Akufo-Addo said: “The recent publication of Ghana’s score in the 2017 Corruption Perception Index, organised by Transparency International, showing a further drop in our standing, a result largely based on “the plethora of corruption allegations/exposés” before the onset of this administration, indicates the enormity of the task ahead. It is noteworthy that its local chapter, Ghana Integrity Initiative, in commenting on the report, has acknowledged that “digitisation is changing the ways we communicate and how we do business, and as a result reduced the corruption rate in Ghana.”

But addressing the media in Accra on Tuesday, 27 February 2018, General Secretary of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketia outlined instances of corruption that the president failed to address in his administration.

He further accused the president of being in denial and falsely blaming the NDC for his mammoth failure in dealing with corruption.

“Contrary to all reasonable expectations, the Nana Akufo-Addo government chose rather to live in denial. They inexplicably decided to play unwholesome politics with a matter as serious as this and did the unthinkable by blaming the past NDC government for the country’s catastrophic decline in the survey,” he stated.

According to him, “the dismal outcome calls for sober reflection and national stock taking with the view to fashioning ways of improving our performance in subsequent editions. This is necessary because such a poor result has negative implications for the country’s international image especially among the global investment community”.

He said the 2017 CPI was produced from nine data sources and “only two or 22 percent of these are traceable to 2016 [when the NDC was in power]. The remaining seven or 88 percent emanated from 2017. This means that an overwhelming majority of data sources used in this survey were based on President Akufo-Addo’s first year in government and even the other two their impact has improved our 40 percent ranking”.

He emphasised that if “that two in 2016 were not added we would have dropped to about 39 percent. We will not get even the 40 percent at all”.