An impactful corruption report from 2022 has unveiled the extensive problem of bribery within public sector of Ghana.
The report’s findings spotlight police officers as the most susceptible to bribery among all public servants, demonstrating an alarming prevalence rate of 53.2 percent.
Conducted in collaboration between the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), and the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), the survey paints a disconcerting picture of the depth of corruption. Officers from the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) and customs officers from the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) also stand out with high bribery rates of 37.4 percent and 33.6 percent, respectively.
Significantly, elected government representatives show notably lower involvement in bribery, registering a mere 2.9 percent prevalence.
Bribes exchanged with public officials encompass various forms. Cash payments constitute nearly 84.8 percent of bribes in Ghana, with food and drink, as well as swapping public services for other services, being less frequent. In rural areas, the proportion of bribes involving food and drink (17.8 percent) exceeds that of urban areas (10.1 percent).
The collective sum of cash bribes paid in Ghana equates to approximately one-third of the Ministry of Education’s 2021 budget.
Urban regions witness cash bribes that are 1.5 times larger than those in rural areas, with the average national bribe amounting to 348 Ghanaian cedis. Given the approximate 17.4 million bribes tendered in Ghana during 2021, the overall cash bribes paid to public officials annually reaches around 5 billion Ghanaian cedis, which corresponds to roughly 32.9 percent of the Ministry of Education’s 2021 budget.
Source – citinewsroom.com
