Following the survey report conducted by the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) in collaboration with the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), titled “Corruption in Ghana, People’s Experiences and Views,” some Ghanaians have expressed their opinions.
The report showed that the prevalence of bribery is highest in relation to the security agencies as compared to that of health workers and elected government representatives.
The top 10 public officials who were found culpable are the Ghana Police Service (53.2%), Ghana Immigration Service (37.4%), GRA customs officers (33.6%), Lands Commission (32.4%), Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (29.0%), Passport Office (29.0%), Judicial Service (22.3%), National Intelligence Bureau (21.2%), National Road Safety Authority (17.8%), Ghana Prisons (17.0%).
To many, this does not come as a surprise especially with the Ghana Police Service ranking first. Some commentators described this feat as being “Consistent” on the part of the police since they have taken the lead in other surveys conducted as far back as 2010.
Other commentators also blamed the rate of corruption on political interference, lack of commitment to deal with people caught in the act and the rate at which evidence in corruption cases is suppressed.
However, it came as a shock to some citizens when the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) made the list as well as the Passport Office. This is due to the fact that these organizations went digital in order to reduce human interference in their actions. Unfortunately, this digitization has served as another avenue for corruption. If not, they would not have been on the list.
We all Fall Short
We need not entirely blame the security services for initiating the bribe collection. We the citizens, sometimes offer to pay our way out of situations. But who will refuse money? No one, so the security personnel will receive the token but will end up being tagged as the corrupt ones. When we do not have money to do our bidding, we may offer bribes in the form of food and drinks placing these agency officials in a situation where refusal becomes difficult. As if this is not enough, we begin to talk about integrity. If we had integrity ourselves, we would not incite these officials with our actions.
Unfortunately, corruption is a deed almost everyone has committed at a point in time. But why is it still happening? People have realized what their leaders are doing and are also following suit. If people who earn much more than I do, are eager to amass more wealth, why don’t I do same?
Holding the Bull by the Horn
If we really want to deal with corruption which is gradually becoming endemic to our society, we would have to consider the following:
- We need to make sure it doesn’t begin and end with discussions. Most often when such issues arise, there are a lot of opinions from television discussions, to social media commentary and sometimes offices are set up to investigate yet the situation is still the same. We do a lot of talking with no action yet expect results. Rather, the laws put in place should be enforced so that defaulters will be punished and learn from them.
- Also, institutions that are now being tagged as corrupt will need their independence to function to minimize external influences from tarnishing their image unless they are comfortable with it.
- Another factor to look out for would be the manner in which investigations are done. In order to conduct concrete investigations, investigators need to make sure there are no informants from their camp who give information to those suspected of corruption activities that very soon they will be investigated so they need to be extra careful.
There should also be enough education on the fact that paying your way out of situations is not always the case. One day, you would also be caught and will probably find your name on a list.