Police Service most corrupt state institution — IEA survey
The Ghana Police Service has once again been cited as the most corrupt state institution. According to the results of the Socio-economic and Governance Survey conducted by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), 23 per cent of the people interviewed were of the opinion that nearly all policemen were corrupt, with only 4.4 per cent saying not all of them were corrupt.
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The survey was conducted between June and July last year and involved 1,200 randomly sampled households across the 10 regions of the country.
Respondents in the survey cited avoiding a problem with the police or avoiding a fine or arrest as the likely circumstances under which they would pay bribe.
The Police Service is followed by the Office of the President as the second most corrupt state institution.
Tax officials occupied the third position, followed by Members of Parliament (MPs), government officials, district chief executives (DCEs), judges and magistrates, assembly members, the Immigration Service and the Armed Forces.
The 2013 Global Corruption Barometer released by Transparency International had also rated the Ghana Police Service as the most corrupt state institution.
Bribery and corruption
Presenting the results of the survey to the media in Accra yesterday, a Senior Fellow at the IEA, Dr Ransford Gyampo, said generally one of the most pressing governance challenges confronting the country was the high prevalence of bribery and corruption.
Transparency International (TI), he recalled, ranked Ghana 63rd out of 177 countries in its 2013 Corruption Perception Index and 61st out of 175 in the 2014 rankings.
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The survey indicated that the public seemed to have little confidence in some state institutions.
“The image of the tax department especially leaves much to be desired. Out of 11 institutions studied, 37.4 per cent of the people said they did not trust the tax department at all. This is followed closely by the Electoral Commission (EC) with 35.8 per cent, the ruling party (35.6), the police (35.1), metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (33.9), the Office of the President (33.8) and Parliament (33.1),” he pointed out.
Dr Gyampo said public confidence in state institutions promoted goodwill and the legitimacy of those institutions.
Economy
On the economy, 40 per cent of the respondents said it was the major problem of the country.
“This clearly shows that bread and butter issues are the immediate concerns for respondents. Our leaders need to pay due attention to bread and butter issues,” Dr Gyampo said.
The survey tried to elicit household perceptions and assessment of their living conditions, with a good majority of respondents, representing 63.3 per cent, regarding their current living conditions as bad.
Only 25.2 per cent indicated that their living conditions were good. The results generally suggested deep economic hardships.
“However, respondents were generally optimistic about improvement in their living conditions in the next six months and this optimism cuts across the gender and the rural-urban divide,” it said.
Performance of government
On the performance of the government, 17 areas of concern were identified and the views of respondents solicited as to how well or badly the current government was addressing them.
“Government performed poorest in ‘keeping prices down – 71.5% response rate’. This was followed respectively by ‘creating jobs – 62%’, ‘narrowing the gap between rich and poor – 58.2%’ and ‘improving the living standards of the people – 57.8%,” it said.
Media
The results of the survey indicated that 56 per cent of respondents believed that the news media abused their freedom by printing or saying things they knew were not true.
A Senior Economist at the IEA, Dr John Kwakye, said the results of the survey stressed the need for policy reforms that would speed up the rate of transmission of growth impulses into improved living conditions that could be realised by Ghanaians.
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When the Police Service was contacted, its Public Relations Officer, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Cephas Arthur, said the service was not privy to the full report of the IEA survey and so it would react to it when it had done so.
Writer’s email: victor.kwawukume@graphic.com.gh