Police, Judiciary, political parties others named as most corrupt
The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) Consortium has named the Police Service, political parties, the Judiciary and the Driver, Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) as the most perceived corrupt institutions in Ghana by citizens.
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The report also said the topmost institutions, where citizens have had actual experiences of bribery in order of descent, were the customs division of Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), DVLA, Passport Office and the Police Service.
The Consortium which comprises of the Ghana Integrity Initiative, Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC) and SEND-Ghana collected data between the period of April and May 2016.
The report “Corruption is Eating us: A call to action” presented the findings of a study undertaken to assess citizens’ understanding of corruption, their perception and their experiences of corruption in Ghana.
According to the report, majority of Ghanaians identify only bribery, embezzlement and fraud as forms of corruption. They are split on whether nepotism is an act of corruption. On the other hand, the respondents do not consider conflict of interest, abuse of discretion and payment of facilitation fees as forms of corruption.
“The top two reasons why citizens pay bribes are to speed up work and to avoid problems with authorities,” the report added.
Recommendations
The report recommended that the government should provide adequate financial resources to the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) to work in collaboration with Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and heighten the level of public education and sensitisation on the types of corruption, its impact and ways for citizens to engage in denouncing the canker.
“Given the positive correlation between higher levels of education and recognition of different types of wrongdoing as corruption, the Ministry of Education (MoE) and Ghana Education Service (GES) must systematically incorporate anticorruption education, as well as ethical norms and standards that influence perceptions of wrongdoing in the curriculum at all levels of education” the report added.
The report emphasised the need for the GRA, DVLA, Passport Office and Ghana Police Service to increase visibility of all measures instituted to address corruption citizens encounter in their interaction with officials of their institutions.
The report said that government should support the implementation of the National Anti-Corruption Action Plan and also play a role in exerting reasonable pressure on policy makers and public institutions in general to ensure that corruption offences from petty bribery to grand corruption are duly investigated, prosecuted and sanctioned.
According to the report, civil society organisations including media and religious bodies must play a fundamental role in holding public officers to account and informing the greater public of the ways in which public resources are managed.
“CSOs and media must become even more vigilant and outspoken in exposing corruption and showcasing impactful ways of resisting corruption” the report said.
ADISS
The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) Consortium comprising GII, Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC) and SEND Ghana is implementing the Accountable Democratic Institutions and Systems Strengthening (AD ISS) Activity.
ADISS is a four-year activity funded by the USAID over the period (September 2014 to September 2018) to increase government accountability in Ghana.
Specifically, ADISS’s purpose is to renew and build upon ongoing anti-corruption efforts and increase the capacities of anti-corruption CSOs to motivate citizens to apply pressure on policy makers and institutions with the aim of reducing corruption in Ghana.
ADISS is being implemented in 50 districts across the 10 regions of Ghana.