Some Members of Parliament have described as unfortunate, a recent Afrobarometer report which ranked Parliament as the third most corrupt institution in Ghana.

The Parliamentarians said the perception report is unfair and stems from a lack of understanding of the work of MPs.

Speaking to JoyNews on Wednesday, the Sagnarigu legislator, A.B.A. Fuseini, indicated that the legislature as a lawmaking body, does not directly benefit from issues it handles.

As such, Parliament as an institution cannot be corrupt.

“I will not for any moment say that MPs are saints and for that matter, you cannot get anybody who does anything untoward. But to say that the institution itself as a whole is manifestly so corrupt that it has been ranked the third, respectfully [I disagree].

“Maybe some people have some disappointment with Parliament. Especially with the way life has deteriorated sharply for most Ghanaians and so in that anger, they say MPs are not doing their work well,” he stressed.

Backing his colleague, the Bortianor Ngleshie Amanfro MP, Sylvester Tetteh said perception report can stifle the development of the country.

In view of that, he cautioned that research institutions should be careful how such information is released into the public domain.

“I haven’t seen the basis for this so when I do so, I will comment fairly. But if it is a perception then they need to get to reality because if you see the state of MPs, I wonder how an MP can be corrupt to that extent,” he noted.

The Ghana Police Service and the Office of the President are perceived as the country’s most corrupt institutions in the Afrobarometer study conducted by the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana)

The research found that the Police’s score of 65% placed it at the top of the chain while the Presidency followed in second position with 55%.

The report also placed members of Parliament as the third group of people in the pack with a score of 54%.

Judges and magistrates, tax officials and the Electoral Commission followed in that order.