IMF Corruption Report Reflects 2023 Realities, Not 2025 — OSP Pushes Back
Accra, Ghana — Ghana’s Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) Kissi Agyebeng has pushed back strongly against portions of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Governance and Corruption Diagnostic Report, arguing that the assessment reflects conditions in 2023, when the agency was still in its formative phase, and not the present-day reality of a stronger, reformed institution.
In a statement released Wednesday, the OSP said the IMF’s findings “must be read within their historical context,” describing the report’s portrayal of institutional weakness as outdated. The Office maintained that the challenges cited, including funding delays, limited staffing, and logistical shortfalls, characterized its early establishment period and have since been addressed through comprehensive internal reforms.
“The weaknesses identified by the IMF describe a past operational reality, not our present state,” the OSP said. “Since 2023, the Office has modernized its case-management systems, expanded staff, and executed major prosecutions that demonstrate institutional maturity.”
The IMF’s 2025 Governance Diagnostic Report, requested by the Ghanaian government and finalized after consultations with both the outgoing and new administrations, provides a sweeping evaluation of governance vulnerabilities across fiscal management, procurement, and rule-of-law systems. The report notes that while Ghana has remained politically stable, “corruption remains a major barrier to effective economic governance, public trust, and sustainable growth.” It identifies public procurement as a critical risk area, citing “excessive reliance on sole-source and restricted tendering without adequate justification or oversight,” leading to inflated costs and frequent non-performance.
Other findings included weak budget credibility and poor expenditure controls that create space for corruption in payment prioritization, fragmented and under-resourced anti-corruption institutions, including limited coordination and enforcement powers, political influence in revenue administration, outdated legal frameworks, and insufficient digitalization at the Ghana Revenue Authority, and judicial delays and recurring allegations of misconduct, which undermine confidence in the rule of law.
The IMF concluded that entrenched inefficiencies, overlapping mandates, and limited enforcement capacity “continue to erode institutional credibility and accountability,” emphasizing that reversing these trends requires “strong political will and broad stakeholder engagement to overcome entrenched interests.”
The IMF outlined a set of priority, time-bound reforms, urging Ghana to strengthen institutional independence, enhance transparency, and minimize discretionary powers in public financial management. Key recommendations focused on reinforcing the financial and operational autonomy of anti-corruption agencies, including the OSP, bolstering budget credibility and accelerating the arrears clearance strategy, strengthening justice-sector efficiency, particularly in the enforcement of anti-corruption laws and modernizing revenue administration and digitizing systems to limit human discretion and leakages.
The OSP contends that many of these concerns have already been addressed. It highlighted that, since 2023, the Office has implemented new investigative protocols, enhanced collaboration with international law-enforcement partners, and pursued major prosecutions, including those involving senior public officials and state agencies.
“We acknowledge the hurdles cited by the IMF, but we are no longer defined by them. The OSP today is stronger, better resourced, and more determined to safeguard integrity and accountability in public life.”
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