Corruption barometer: Police, political parties indicted
A Survey of 2000 people in Ghana suggests that the police and political parties are the most corrupt institutions in the country.
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The survey conducted by Transparency International (TI) for its Global Corruption Barometer for 2013 suggests that in Ghana, 54 per cent of the 2000 respondents reported that corruption has increased in the past two years, while 20 per cent reported that corruption has decreased.
A statement issued in Accra by the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), a local chapter of TI and signed by its Executive Director, Mr Vitus Azeem on the 2013 corruption barometer report said that the report reveals “More than one person in two, thinks corruption has worsened in the last two years although survey participants also firmly believe that they can make a difference in the fight against corruption and have the will to take action against graft”.
The report has, therefore, recommended that President John Mahama institutes effective anti-corruption measures to eliminate corruption within the Police Administration.
This should give the Police Service a better public image and enable the citizens to have confidence in the Police Service and increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the Police Service to make it responsive to the needs of the citizens.
The GII also recommended that although the Judiciary was independent and largely impartial, there were still instances of perceived corruption that needed to be dealt with seriously by the institution.
“The Chief Justice should, therefore, take measures to root out all corrupt officials within the Judicial Service, speed up law reforms, speed up the judiciary process with the view to reducing bureaucracy and ensuring that the official and unofficial cost of seeking justice is minimised as much as possible”, The GII opined.
They have also called for the Whistleblower Act to be amended to provide adequate protection for citizens to report wrong-doing in the public and private sectors and protect them from retribution.
There should be appropriate follow-up mechanisms to encourage people to use existing reporting mechanisms to speak out against corruption when they witness or experience it and get redress.
The Police topped the corruption list (with 4.7 out of 5) as the most corrupt category of institutions, followed by political parties with a score of 4.2 out of 5.
The findings were contained in the 2013 Global Corruption Barometer survey on the public’s perception of corruption.
The survey of the public’s perceptions and experiences of corruption were carried out in 107 countries, covering 114,000 people in all.
The survey in Ghana involved some 2000 respondents from two ministries, departments and agencies (MMDAs) in each of the 10 administrative regions.
The report said that the generality of corruption is widespread as 27 per cent of all respondents have paid a bribe when accessing public services and institutions in the last 12 months.
It said that while some respondents paid bribes to either speed up processes of their demands, others said the payment was the only guarantee they could obtain the services they wanted.
By Della Russel Ocloo/Daily Graphic/Ghana