We steal and waste more than twice what we borrow - Kofi Bentil

Lawyer and Senior Vice President of IMANI Africa, Kofi Bentil has responded to the Corruption Projection Index (CPI) report for 2022 which placed Ghana 72nd in ranking.

According to him, Ghana’s poor ranking can be attributed to the fact that public officials mismanage state resources put at their disposal.

“We steal and waste in this country more than twice of what we borrow.

Bentil lamented that the issue of corruption is becoming a huge problem for the country, especially as there seems to be no improvement in spite of the numerous anti-corruption agencies established by successive governments..

According to the lawyer, the perennial issue of corruption has been underpinned by the country’s “governance systems and structures” which largely is controlled by the Constitution.

He explained that the flaws in the governance systems and structures, subsequently manifest themselves in “massive corruption which makes people give up.”

Explaining further, Mr.

Previous reports have indicated that the country loses billions of dollars to corruption yearly.

In 2018, it was reported that the country loses $3 billion annually.

By 2021, reports indicated that the country lost a total of GH₵5 billion to corruption.

Meanwhile, latest discussions have been about government’s alleged misappropriation of Covid-19 funds.

According to the Auditor-General’s report on the funds, out of a total of approximately $21 billion, only about $11 billion was used in the fight against the pandemic with the other $10 billion gone unaccounted for.  However, the government said it used the $10 billion to support its budget.

Most recent revelation on the issue of corruption has been the topic of fraudulent placement of student into Senior High Schools after their Junior High School education.