Head of Research at Transparency International Defence and Security, Dr Ofori Mensah, has said that Ghana has established important systems to promote accountability in the defence sector, but significant gaps remain between existing laws and their actual implementation.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show during the Corruption Watch segment, in collaboration with Transparency International, on Wednesday, July 22, Dr Mensah discussed findings from the Government Defence Integrity Index (GDI), which rated Ghana’s defence sector as being at high risk of corruption.
Dr Mensah said Ghana has stronger political governance and oversight structures compared with several other countries in the region.
“Ghana has important strengths. Its political governance and oversight framework is comparatively stronger than other countries in the region,” he said.
He pointed to parliamentary scrutiny, the work of the Defence and Interior committees, formal procurement frameworks, and opportunities for public debate and civil society engagement as positive areas.
“This programme is a clear example,” he said, referring to the Corruption Watch discussion platform.
However, he warned that Ghana still faces significant risks, particularly in financial transparency, procurement and military operations.
“Ghana’s overall risk rating is in the high corruption risk band,” he said.
He said that Ghana scored particularly poorly in operational risk, with a score of four out of 100, while financial transparency scored 27 out of 100 and procurement scored 30 out of 100.
“The key issue is therefore not that Ghana has no safeguards. The important issue is the significant gap between formal systems and effective implementation,” he explained.
Dr Mensah said Ghana already has the foundations needed for stronger defence accountability but must focus on ensuring that those systems deliver consistent results.
“Ghana, I must say, has important foundations for defence accountability. The challenge now is to turn those foundations into consistently effective safeguards,” he said.
He added that improving transparency in the defence sector would require collaboration among government, Parliament, civil society, researchers and other stakeholders.
“Key stakeholders like Parliament, experts like my brother Dr Emmanuel Sowate and others, we all need to come together to work towards improving the transparency aspect in defence and better on the accountability side,” he said.
He explained that the index does not measure actual cases of corruption but assesses the strength of institutional controls designed to prevent corruption risks within national defence establishments.
“The Government Defence Integrity Index assesses the strength of institutional controls against corruption risk in national defence establishments,” he said.
According to Dr Mensah, the purpose of the index is to help governments identify areas where corruption risks exist and determine where reforms should be prioritised.
“The GDI does not measure the amount of corruption that has actually occurred. It’s about risk, assessing the risk,” he explained.
He said the assessment examines five key areas, including policy-making, financial management, personnel management, military operations and procurement.
“The goal is to help governments identify where risks are and where reform should be prioritised,” he added.
Dr Mensah also explained that the assessment follows a rigorous process involving country assessors, quality checks and reviews by relevant stakeholders.
He said governments and Transparency International chapters in assessed countries are given opportunities to review the findings and provide evidence where they believe corrections are needed.
“When government or the chapters identify that an issue or one of the indicators or questions that has been assessed is incorrect, they provide evidence, and once that evidence stands up to scrutiny, we do revise the scores,” he said.
Discussing the broader findings from the first wave of the GDI covering sub-Saharan Africa, Dr Mensah said the results point to serious concerns about defence governance across the continent.
He explained that while many countries have formal anti-corruption frameworks, enforcement remains a major challenge.
“Unfortunately, the outlook is not particularly encouraging. It tells us that defence governance is in a very critical state,” he said.
Dr Mensah said that about 88 per cent of countries assessed have the necessary frameworks in place, but only about 65 per cent are effectively enforcing those frameworks for corruption prevention and risk management.
He also highlighted concerns about rising defence spending globally and across Africa, saying increased spending requires stronger oversight and transparency.
“Defence spending is rising across the world, and in our region also we see the trend of rising defence spending. This makes it particularly important that we pay attention to scrutiny and oversight,” he said.
Another major concern, according to him, is weak transparency within defence institutions, with some countries relying on secrecy as a justification for limited public scrutiny.
“You realise that several institutions basically rely on the fact that defence is an exceptional area and therefore it’s actually shrouded in secrecy, which is not necessarily the case according to global practice,” he stated.
Dr Mensah said one of the most striking findings from the research was the difference between having laws and institutions in place and ensuring they work effectively.
“What struck me the most was the implementation gap between law and practice,” he said.
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